Social sustainability and human rights in global supply chains

Abstract

PurposeFirms are accountable for upholding worker rights and well-being in their supply base. The authors unpack the evolution in lead firm thinking and practice about how to assure labor conditions at suppliers.Design/methodology/approachThe authors conducted interviews with the social sustainability leaders at 22 global corporations (“lead firms”) and their sustainability consultants to understand how they think about, and enact efforts, to support labor in their supply base. The authors complement this with an analysis of stated practice in proprietary supplier codes of conduct for the manufacturing and extractive-related firms in the S&P 500 and FTSE 350.FindingsThe authors’ interviews suggest firms follow two distinct and cumulative approaches: a transactional-based approach leveraging collective buyer power to enforce supplier compliance and a relational-based approach focused on mutual capacity building between lead (buyer) firms and their suppliers. The authors also see the emergence, in a small subset of firms, of a bottom-up approach that recognizes supplier workers as rights-holders and empowers them to understand and claim their rights.Originality/valueThe authors identify systematic convergence in supplier codes of conduct. While the transactional and relational approaches are well documented in the supply chain social sustainability literature, the rights-holder approach is not. Its emergence presents an important complement to the other approaches and enables a broader recognition of human rights, and the duty of Western firms to assure those rights.

The Effect of Supply Chain Sustainability Practices on Romanian SME Performance

“…A recent study looked at businesses' thinking and practices about how to ensure working conditions and respect for workers' rights in a supply chain. The results showed that despite systematic convergence in codes of conduct for enterprises, the practical application of approaches to the social sustainability of the supply chain is often not achieved [30]. Ref.…”

“…Ref. [30] pointed out that businesses in supply chains are responsible for supporting employees' rights and welfare in their supply base. In addition, they observed that enterprises follow two distinct and cumulative approaches, based on transactions and relationships, to ensure supplier compliance and strengthen mutual capacity between them and their suppliers.…”

“…From a sustainability perspective, the supply chain performance of an enterprise cannot be achieved if social aspects are not achieved simultaneously. Respecting working conditions, promoting human rights, and cultivating ethical relationships with all supply chain stakeholders have been the subject of studies by [30,121,122]. Third, the study develops a new multidimensional construct model that allows for a more comprehensive understanding of the factors that influence business performance by integrating the economic, social, and environmental dimensions of sustainability.…”