Can Hybrid Organisations Solve the Paradox of the Triple Bottom Line, and Does It Need Solving?

ABSTRACT This study investigates how B Corp certification enables hybrid organisations to integrate competing institutional logics of market and social purpose. Through a two‐stage qualitative design combining cross‐sector interviews with B Corps and an in‐depth case study, with a total of 30 participants, we analyse how certification supports hybrid organisations in practice. Three mechanisms of logic integration are identified: blending commercial and social logics to craft synergistic value propositions, assimilating social concerns into core business operations and elaborating existing practices to embed sustainability. B Corp certification emerges as a mediating institutional infrastructure that legitimises hybridity through frameworks for continuous improvement, stakeholder accountability and community building, while simultaneously imposing operational demands. Findings underscore the importance of sophisticated tension management across decision‐making, resource allocation and performance evaluation. The study contributes by refining theory on hybrid organisations and reframing certification as an enabling–constraining scaffold that renders paradoxes manageable rather than resolvable.

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Publication Details

Journal
Business Strategy and the Environment
Published
2025-11-19
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1002/bse.70272
Primary Topic
Global trade, sustainability, and social impact
Type
article
Field-Weighted Citation Impact
0.00

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article

Can Hybrid Organisations Solve the Paradox of the Triple Bottom Line, and Does It Need Solving?

Constantine Manolchev, Ruth Cherrington, Danielle Farrow, Amanda Ayliffe
Business Strategy and the Environment
Global trade, sustainability, and social impact
article

Can Hybrid Organisations Solve the Paradox of the Triple Bottom Line, and Does It Need Solving?

Constantine Manolchev, Ruth Cherrington, Danielle Farrow, Amanda Ayliffe
article en

Abstract

ABSTRACT This study investigates how B Corp certification enables hybrid organisations to integrate competing institutional logics of market and social purpose. Through a two‐stage qualitative design combining cross‐sector interviews with B Corps and an in‐depth case study, with a total of 30 participants, we analyse how certification supports hybrid organisations in practice. Three mechanisms of logic integration are identified: blending commercial and social logics to craft synergistic value propositions, assimilating social concerns into core business operations and elaborating existing practices to embed sustainability. B Corp certification emerges as a mediating institutional infrastructure that legitimises hybridity through frameworks for continuous improvement, stakeholder accountability and community building, while simultaneously imposing operational demands. Findings underscore the importance of sophisticated tension management across decision‐making, resource allocation and performance evaluation. The study contributes by refining theory on hybrid organisations and reframing certification as an enabling–constraining scaffold that renders paradoxes manageable rather than resolvable.

Business Strategy and the EnvironmentVol. 35(3)
University of Exeter (GB), University of Edinburgh (GB)
Government of the United Kingdom, University of Exeter
Openalex Percentile: Top 50%
Global trade, sustainability, and social impact
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