Firms pursue third-party certification to private standards to reduce firm-level information asymmetries of certain unobservable characteristics and thus obtain legitimacy. However, when the private standard’s legitimacy dilutes, those same firms have reasons to abandon certifications...

Firms are frequently pressured by customers to obtain certification to one or more voluntary sustainability standards. However, uncertainty associated with competing voluntary sustainability standards can reduce the value of standard certifications and jeopardize the entire voluntary regulatory...