Measuring Corporate Social Responsibility for Consumers: Lessons Learned from Seven Years in the Field

Which company is more sustainable: Coca Cola or Pepsi? Apple or Microsoft? GE or LG? Or none of the above? While data clearly indicate that we must significantly reduce our overall quantity of consumption, sustainable consumers face a wide range of obstacles when attempting to enhance the quality (responsibility) of their consumption. Reliable data is not readily available, and the practice of “greenwashing” – or deceptive marketing that makes corporations appear socially responsible – conceals legacies of unethical conduct. How can citizen consumers effectively navigate the muddy waters of corporate social responsibility?

Drawing from a seven-year public sociology research project that uses independent, third party data to evaluate corporate practices, this presentation examines the art and science of measuring corporate social responsibility. More specifically, it explores five tensions inherent in the development of a comprehensive and accessible system of measurement.

1. The Data Integrity Problem: Including all reliable data, on the one hand, while excluding overly-biased data (or data that is the product of greenwashing), on the other.

2. The Data Quantity Problem: Uncovering too little data on some companies and too much (potentially overlapping) data on others.

3. The Past/Present Problem: Weighing companies’ legacy of positive or negative conduct against more recent indications of change.

4. The Multidimensional Problem: Determining the comparative value of different dimensions of social responsibility (e.g. human rights, the environment, political lobbying).

5. The Simplicity/Complexity Problem: Creating a system that is simple enough for consumers to use while being complex enough to accurately capture the many facets of corporate conduct.

The author offers working solutions to these tensions and explores the strengths and weaknesses of his methodology.  More broadly, this inquiry underscores how, in order to be effective, more sustainable consumption requires increased corporate transparency and better public sources of data on corporate social responsibility.