Sector-Scale Proliferation of CSR Quality Label Programs via Mimicry: The Rotkäppchen Effect

Proliferation of CSR quality certification programs can be analysed within theories mimicry. Some firms use third-party certificates to signal their practices consumers accurately. These and benefit from few, simple, recognized, reliable labels. Other competing or own-brand labels deceptively, gaining competitive advantage without compliance costs. Unreliable act as mimics dupe consumers. If cannot determine which are misleading, they ignore them all. Within ecological mimicry, this is known aggressive reverse Brouwerian automimicry. CSR-label research has a different naming tradition, sector-scale effect could called rotkäppchen effect, analogous program-scale groucho firm-scale goldilocks effects. It testable by analysing mimicry mechanisms predicted patterns.