Benefit Corporations: The Moral Legitimacy That Requires More Rules

This study examines why Italian for-profit firms convert to Benefit Corporation status and how they navigate the ensuing hybridization. Survey data from 118 companies are interpreted through a pragmatic and moral legitimacy lens. Results show that the main trigger is pragmatic legitimacy: managers seek to strengthen trust with internal and external stakeholders' categories. Conversion to the Benefit status then feeds a ‘collective level legitimacy’ as firms identify themselves as members of a reputational business community promoting the ‘common good’. As a barrier to the adoption, the bylaw amendment represents the largest cost, while the Impact-Officer role is usually internalized. Impact disclosure, however, remains uneven, raising doubts on possible ‘benefit washing’ concerns regarding the Impact Report credibility and tolerating potential ‘cherry picking’ opportunistic approaches. The paper calls for the adoption of harmonized metrics, tighter oversight and sanctions schemes to safeguard ‘collective level legitimacy’ and realize the systemic potential of European Benefit Corporations.