Social Labeling by Competing NGOs: A Model with Multiple Issues and Entry

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Heyes, Anthony; Martin, Steve
• 署名单位: University of Ottawa
• 刊物名称: MANAGEMENT SCIENCE
• ISSN/ISSBN: 0025-1909
• DOI: 10.1287/mnsc.2015.2419
• 发表日期: 2017
• 页码: 1800-1813
• 关键词: NGO certification; label design; Corporate social responsibility; eco-labels; green labels

摘要

In many settings firms rely on nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) to certify prosocial attributes embodied in their products. We provide a model of competition between NGOs in the provision of labeling services. Competition between a fixed number ofNGOs features a race to the top in labeling standards, but entry ofNGOs offering new labels pushes standards down. In a wide range of settings NGO entry and competition results in too many labels being adopted, with each label being too stringent. Compared to a setting in which firms can credibly communicate the social attributes of their products, labels demand greater prosocial behavior than is desired by firms, although with proliferation of the number of labels this discrepancy disappears. In contrast to existing models, firms may engage in excessive corporate social responsibility when they rely on an NGO as a certifying intermediary.