Annual Meeting of the Academy of Management 2023

Description

Contextualize social responsibility or credible responsibility in global production network? (Conference paper presentation)

The garment global production network (GPN) is founded on an unrecognized gendered manufacturing workforce. While these women’s work conditions and welfare have been the focus of numerous civil society organizations’ (CSOs) efforts, substantial and widespread improvement has not been realized. The emergence of multilevel-stakeholder-initiative (MSI) compliance regimes, based on relational engagements between CSOs, and garment brands and manufacturers, were seen as the new age for workers. MSI compliance regimes were argued to demonstrate relational responsibilities, which grounds their legitimacy. We examine ethical sourcing practice focussing on situatedness of commitments regarding the materialization of social development goals in the context of post compliance regimes in Bangladeshi garment industry. Our findings show that the necessity of safe, secure, and stable work and entitlements of workers are contingent on brands’ unpredictable and exploitative procurement practices, revealing the lack of business accountability. Drawing on Sen and Drèze, we argue that accountability is innately linked with the perspectives of rights. However, the realization of workers’ rights is contingent on democratic means and actions that lead to public debate and the strength of public actions. We argue for a critical evaluation of how different actors contribute to democratizing the governing of GPNs, and showing how accountability intersects with credible responsibility.

Period	4 Aug 2023 → 8 Aug 2023
Event type	Conference
Conference number	83rd
Location	Boston, United States of America, MassachusettsShow on map
Degree of Recognition	International