“Hybrid” enterprises, which include social elements in their DNA, add the pursuit of social aims to the traditional economic one, and represent the most relevant and significant phenomenon in the context of awareness-raising processes towards sustainable activities. At least in Europe, organizational hybridism was born and spread in the context of the provision and management of welfare and public services, but it is now interesting also the boundary between profit and no profit. One of the most recent examples of this hybridism in “profit area” is given by the Italian Società Benefit (SB), a legal qualification introduced into the Italian legal system with the 2016 Stability Law (Law no. 208/2015). The “duality” of purpose (economic and social) of this new entrepreneurial paradigm is also reflected in accountability and communication processes, with the preparation and the presentation of a non-financial report (Relazione di Impatto, RDI) to be attached to the annual financial statements. Aim of the study is to highlight, through an analysis of the RDIs of a sample of Italian Società Benefit, the degree of awareness and maturity achieved on social and sustainability issues, through an assessment on the materiality of the information. Specifically, by making a classification in consideration of the degree of awareness and maturity on social and sustainability issues, it is presented an identification of four different types of SB (“nominal”, “immature”, “embellished” and “conscious”), using a content analysis, that is to say a quali-quantitative research methodology that allows the contents of documents to be “categorized” on the basis of key themes and predetermined evaluation criteria. The results revealed the presence of organizations which have not yet fully understood the importance of the accountability and communication processes in terms of sustainability and suggested the necessity of a more adequate system of controls and a clarification of the supporting legislation. In this sense, it is also desirable to disseminate greater responsibility of all the players involved in the system: the stakeholders, the competitors, but specifically B-Corps, in the awareness of their role of example for a new vision of the creation of a truly sustainable wealth.
Keywords: B-Corps, Italy, Materiality, Non-financial reporting
