%0 Conference Paper %A Reynolds, Giao %A Lambert, Susan %D 2019 %T Australian and New Zealand B Corps and Their Use of Social Media %U https://torrens.figshare.com/articles/conference_contribution/Australian_and_New_Zealand_B_Corps_and_Their_Use_of_Social_Media/9566600 %R 10.25905/5d523ed96edfd %K B Corp %K Social media %K Social and environmental responsibility %K Qualitative research %K Innovation and Technology Management %X

B Corp certification originated in the United States (U.S.) but firms in other countries including Australia and New Zealand are increasingly seeking certification. B Corps are for-profit companies that voluntarily agree to meet high standards of social and environmental performance and commitment. Proponents of B Corps believe that an increasing number of customers, investors and other stakeholders favor firms that have a strong commitment to corporate social and environmental responsibility and therefore favor firms that have B Corp certification. This research seeks to contribute to the knowledge about B Corps and their use of social media to disseminate information regarding their social and environmental activities including their B Corp status. The Facebook and Twitter posts of the 30 top ranking Australian and New Zealand B Corps over the calendar year of 2016 are reviewed and subjected to quantitative and qualitative analysis. This exploratory study reveals that even though all B Corps in the sample have a clear commitment to social and environmental responsibility, the majority made very few social media postings that communicate the commitment. The firms’ promotion of their B Corp status is generally modest. The study does not explore the reasons for the behavior but proffers this for future research.

Reynolds G., Lambert S., Podder J. (2019) Australian and New Zealand B Corps and Their Use of Social Media. In: Bilgin M., Danis H., Demir E., Can U. (eds) Eurasian Business Perspectives. Eurasian Studies in Business and Economics, vol 11/2. Springer, Cham
%I Torrens University Australia