Abstract
CSR promotion within organizations is often dependent on employees who act as internal activists to advance initiatives that are not necessarily related to economic and financial returns. This research combines the CSR literature on internal mobilisation and external assessments with insights from the sociology of quantification to investigate the impact of CSR external assessments on internal employees. Adopting an inductive approach, it analyzes the Canadian sustainable procurement barometer case to understand the perspective of employees, experts, and consultants on the influence of external assessments on promoting CSR within organizations. Results indicate that external assessments are part of a broader process and affect employees' positioning, the arguments they use to influence other members of the organization, and their capacity to measure their results.