Standardization Without Convergence: Organizational Perspectives on Social Impact Measurement

This study examines how organizations engaged in social impact activities perceive the desirability of standardizing social impact measurement. Drawing on survey data from 785 organizations, the analysis adopts an organization-centered perspective and combines descriptive statistics, cluster analysis, and regression models. The findings show broad support for standardization, although preferences are more strongly oriented toward sector-specific approaches rather than uniform cross-sector solutions. Cluster analysis reveals distinct organizational profiles characterized by different configurations of strategic renewal, social additionality, impact scope, and measurement challenges. Regression results indicate that the desirability of standardization is not uniformly determined, but varies across profiles, with factors such as strategic renewal, market exposure, and perceived impact distinctiveness playing a role in specific clusters. We propose that social impact measurement standardization is embedded in heterogeneous organizational configurations, highlighting the limits of one-size-fits-all approaches and the need for more context-sensitive standardization designs.