We examine why organizations may at times decrease their performance after receiving a positive rating. We argue that in contrast to the prevailing assumption that organizations will strive for favorable ratings to achieve reputational benefits, incompatibility between a positive rating and a...

We examine why organizations may at times decrease their performance after receiving a positive rating. Incorporating insights from the literature on institutional complexity and competing institutional logics, we argue and demonstrate how the perceived incompatibility between a positive rating...

While many rating systems incentivize firms to improve their performance, I investigate how positive recognition from external stakeholders can lead to reductions in performance, rather than improvements. Drawing upon behavioral and performance feedback theory, I argue that positive ratings can...

We are interested in explaining firms' environmental performance, and factors affecting firms' abilities to improve that performance. We investigate the role of technology as a factor in influencing firms' environmental strategies. We also consider whether a firm's primary technology type is a...

We contribute to the literature on firms' response to institutional pressures and environmental information disclosure. We hypothesize that CEO characteristics will influence firms' likelihood of acquiescing to pressures to disclose environmental information, and that acquiescence, in turn, will...

In this study, I investigate how organizations respond to positive social ratings. Drawing upon theoretical insights from the organizational literatures on reputation, information disclosure, and commensuration, I argue that positive social ratings that define a specific and fixed threshold for...

Despite the proliferation of lists and rankings that recognize firms for superior performance, empirical studies have been limited in their ability to causally evaluate how inclusion for the marginal firm influences shareholder value. Using a regression discontinuity design, we address this...