Settling Hybrid Identity through Impact Assessment? The Case of B Corps

This paper investigates the capacity of impact assessment processes to settle the category of hybrid entrepreneurial organisations. This potential lies in two main endeavours: the integrated and holistic assessment of the economic and socio-environmental fields, and the provision of robust and comparable results balanced with a tailored representation of an organisation’s specifics. We provide an empirical test on B Corps analysing the B Impact Assessment (BIA). Results reveal that the BIA has capacity for holistic accountability and provides comparable results through sectors, geographic areas, and legal forms. We raise concerns about its ability to accurately represent context-based specific identities.