Analysis of convergence in the assessment of corporate social responsibility indexes in the context of the Brazilian firm

This paper investigates whether there is convergence in the assessment of the Brazilian firms in the corporate social responsibility (CSR) indexes. A qualitative and quantitative analysis of 1.007 observations of Brazilian firms evaluated by these indexes during 2013-2017 was carried out: Corporate Sustainability Index, Merco Corporate Reputation Companies, Merco Social Responsibility and Corporate Governance, and CSR indexes from CSRHub and Thomson Reuters. The results indicate that these indexes, although presenting specific methodologies, are positively correlated. This shows that there is convergence in the evaluation of Brazilian firms in corporate social responsibility performance, and shows that the process of evaluating indexes seems consistent. This finding represents an additional contribution to deepening the debate about the effectiveness of the criteria for evaluating CSR.