Human Rights Risks in Global Supply Chains: Applying the <scp>UK</scp> Modern Slavery Act to the Public Sector

Martin‐Ortega, Olga

doi:10.1111/1758-5899.12501

Cited by 18 publications

(13 citation statements)

References 9 publications

(9 reference statements)

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…The only part of the public sector obliged to involve itself in the iterative process of the experimentalist governance-informed MSA is HE (Martin-Ortega, 2017), which is the chosen context for our study. UK HE is also obliged to comply with public sector procurement legislation.…”

Section: The Public Sector As a Contextmentioning

confidence: 99%

Organisational responses to mandatory modern slavery disclosure legislation: a failure of experimentalist governance?

Rogerson¹,

Crane²,

Soundararajan³

et al. 2020

AAAJ

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

PurposeThis paper investigates how organisations are responding to mandatory modern slavery disclosure legislation. Experimentalist governance suggests that organisations faced with disclosure requirements such as those contained in the UK Modern Slavery Act 2015 will compete with one another, and in doing so, improve compliance. The authors seek to understand whether this is the case.Design/methodology/approachThis study is set in the UK public sector. The authors conduct interviews with over 25% of UK universities that are within the scope of the UK Modern Slavery Act 2015 and examine their reporting and disclosure under that legislation.FindingsThe authors find that, contrary to the logic of experimentalist governance, universities' disclosures as reflected in their modern slavery statements are persistently poor on detail, lack variation and have led to little meaningful action to tackle modern slavery. They show that this is due to a herding effect that results in universities responding as a sector rather than independently; a built-in incapacity to effectively manage supply chains; and insufficient attention to the issue at the board level. The authors also identity important boundary conditions of experimentalist governance.Research limitations/implicationsThe generalisability of the authors’ findings is restricted to the public sector.Practical implicationsIn contexts where disclosure under the UK Modern Slavery Act 2015 is not a core offering of the sector, and where competition is limited, there is little incentive to engage in a “race to the top” in terms of disclosure. As such, pro-forma compliance prevails and the effectiveness of disclosure as a tool to drive change in supply chains to safeguard workers is relatively ineffective. Instead, organisations must develop better knowledge of their supply chains and executives and a more critical eye for modern slavery to be combatted effectively. Accountants and their systems and skills can facilitate this development.Originality/valueThis is the first investigation of the organisational processes and activities which underpin disclosures related to modern slavery disclosure legislation. This paper contributes to the accounting and disclosure modern slavery literature by investigating public sector organisations' processes, activities and responses to mandatory reporting legislation on modern slavery.

show abstract

Section: The Public Sector As a Contextmentioning

confidence: 99%

Organisational responses to mandatory modern slavery disclosure legislation: a failure of experimentalist governance?

Rogerson¹,

Crane²,

Soundararajan³

et al. 2020

AAAJ

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Contemporary supply chains are emerging as a key area for urgent attention in modern slavery research (LeBaron, 2013) because their complex networks can create risks that leave workers vulnerable to exploitation (Martin-Ortega, 2017). Modern slavery is pervasive, and while quantification remains problematic, the latest figures estimate 16 million people are in forced labour exploitation in the private economy worldwide (Global Slavery Index, 2019).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Modern slavery in supply chains: insights through strategic ambiguity

Meehan

Pinnington

2021

IJOPM

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to assess whether firms' transparency in supply chain (TISC) statements indicate that substantive action is being taken on modern slavery in UK government supply chains.Design/methodology/approachThe authors analyse 66 of the UK government's strategic suppliers' TISC statements and 20 key documents related to the policy intent of the UK Parliament, 2015 (2015) TISC requirements. Qualitative document analysis identifies what suppliers say they are doing and what they are not saying to provide novel insights into how firms employ ambiguity to avoid timely action on modern slavery in their supply chains A set of propositions are developed.FindingsThe authors elaborate the concepts of time and change in socially sustainable supply chains and illustrate how firms use ambiguity in TISC statements as a highly strategic form of action to defend the status quo, reduce accountability and delay action for modern slavery within supply chains. The authors identify three ambiguous techniques: defensive reassurance, transfer responsibility and scope reduction that deviate from the policy intention of collaborative action.Social implicationsThe results illustrates how ambiguity is preventing firms from taking collaborative action to tackle modern slavery in their supply chains. The lack of action as a result of ambiguity protects firms, rather than potential victims of modern slavery.Originality/valuePrior research focuses on technical compliance rather than the content of firms' TISC statements. This qualitative study provides novel insights into the policy-resistant effects of ambiguity and highlights the dynamic and instrumental role of modern slavery reporting. Theoretically, we identify accountability as an essential concept to address the causes of modern slavery in supply chains and for developing collaborative supply chain environments to tackle the issues.

show abstract

“…The current research has adopted the qualitative approach for analysing modern slavery statements submitted by Australian construction entities to delve further into understanding the most practical prevention tactics, remediation, and transparency in the field. Similar approach has been also applied by Stevenson and Cole [15] to collect secondary data on modern slavery statements of clothing retailers in the UK and Martin-Ortega [16] to assess modern slavery statements of UK universities.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Beyond compliance in the construction sector: Mapping the modern slavery statements through content analysis

Suprun

AlMeshari

Liu

et al. 2022

IOP Conf. Ser.: Earth Environ. Sci.

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Modern slavery is considered a widely recognized issue within labour-intensive markets of the construction industry. The recent introduction of the Modern Slavery Act 2018 (Cth) in Australia, has pragmatically pressured construction companies into publishing modern slavery statements that explore the methods in how they have managed to tackle and address the presence of modern slavery within their business and supply chains. This paper, as a part of an ongoing research project, conducts a content analysis to examine Australian modern slavery statements to identify common practices among Australian construction firms. For this purpose, we collected 62 modern slavery statements from construction companies that had issued such statements after the introduction of the regulatory requirement in Australia. The analysis uncovers diverse reporting practices in relation to the corporate commitment and governance, traceability and risk assessment, recruitment, purchasing practices, worker voice, remediation, and monitoring. The paper provides a baseline of understanding about the content and substance of modern slavery statements as a foundation for future research into developing an integrated framework for evaluating the performance on addressing modern slavery.

show abstract

Human Rights Risks in Global Supply Chains: Applying the UK Modern Slavery Act to the Public Sector

Cited by 18 publications

References 9 publications

Organisational responses to mandatory modern slavery disclosure legislation: a failure of experimentalist governance?

Organisational responses to mandatory modern slavery disclosure legislation: a failure of experimentalist governance?

Modern slavery in supply chains: insights through strategic ambiguity

Beyond compliance in the construction sector: Mapping the modern slavery statements through content analysis

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About