How B Corp Leaders Communicate and Implement Sustainability Strategies: Evidence from the Italian Context

In recent decades, the roles of companies have undergone profound changes, evolving from a vision focused solely on profit, based on shareholder interest, to a vision that takes into account the interests of all stakeholders of the company. In line with this approach, the non-profit organization B Lab aims to recognize the positive impact of companies on multiple stakeholders through the B Corp certification. Within B Corps, a fundamental role is played by the leader, who with their vision guides the company to adopt sustainability strategies and inspires employees to share these values. Through a qualitative study based on semi-structured interviews, this exploratory research aims to investigate how B Corp leaders effectively communicate sustainability strategies to employees, to align internal stakeholders and ensure successful strategy implementation. In line with transformational leadership theory, our analysis shows that leaders adopt a role model within the company, transmitting their vision and actively involving employees in sustainability strategies by using direct communication based on face-to-face meetings and moments of dialogue. Interesting, our results also suggest that longer employee tenure may discourage employees’ adoption of B Corps strategy due to a higher resistance to change. In addition, the higher the employees’ position within the company, the greater their understanding and acceptance of the strategy, also due to their closer relationship with the leader