Out of social accountability: Reasons and alternative paths for SA8000 decertification

This article examines the reasons that drive companies to leave Social Accountability 8000 (SA8000)—the main auditable corporate social responsibility standard—and which alternative paths they undertake after the abandonment. As decertification from SA8000 is an under-researched phenomenon, an exploratory approach based on the analysis of 15 multi-country/industry companies has been adopted. Findings show that firms leave SA8000 for several reasons including the reduction of commercial advantages, paperwork overload, and complexities in orders and suppliers management. Our investigation recognizes decertification drivers that are recurring in other standards as well as new ones specific to SA8000. For what concerns the post-decertification paths, we observe that firms pursue three distinct exit strategies (i.e., adoption of an alternative initiative/standard; no adoption of any alternative social standard/initiative, but still respect some SA8000 requirements; no adoption of any alternative social standard/initiative and stop taking care of SA8000 requirements).