The role of psychological distance in organizational responses to modern slavery risk in supply chains

This chapter explores how business is implicated by modern slavery, and the salient requirements of the UK Modern Slavery Act (MSA) transparency in supply chain provision, in the context of growing mandatory reporting requirements for business to report transparently on their supply chain impacts. It also examines how business has responded to the MSA. It concludes with some practical steps that business can take to address the risk of modern slavery in its supply chains. Among these are ensuring that top management is supportive of tackling modern slavery in the organisation and supply chains; understanding how these obligations fit within any wider mandatory or voluntary reporting undertaken by the business; putting policies in place; establishing robust due-diligence processes; mapping the supply and value chain of the business.

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Class Acts? A comparative analysis of modern slavery legislation across the UK

The Modern Slavery Agenda ◽

10.1332/policypress/9781447346791.003.0005 ◽

2019 ◽

pp. 97-120

Author(s):

Vicky Brotherton

Keyword(s):

Comparative Analysis ◽

Criminal Justice ◽

Supply Chains ◽

International Law ◽

Human Trafficking ◽

Modern Slavery ◽

The Uk

In 2015, three new Acts had passed into law: the Modern Slavery Act (MSA), the Human Trafficking and Exploitation (Criminal Justice and Support for Victims) Act, and the Human Trafficking and Exploitation (Scotland) Act. The three Acts are comprehensive in scope and include: a raft of new criminal offences; measures aimed at preventing modern slavery; support provisions for child and adult victims; and in the MSA, the role of an Independent Anti-Slavery Commissioner and a ‘Transparency in Supply Chains’ provision, aimed at improving businesses' response to slavery and exploitation. This chapter considers the key, comparable provisions across the three Acts — assessing if and how they differ from each other and from standards in international law. It also details the extent of their implementation and impact to date.

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The Organizational Dynamics of Compliance With the UK Modern Slavery Act in the Food and Tobacco Sector

Business & Society ◽

10.1177/0007650319898195 ◽

2019 ◽

pp. 000765031989819 ◽

Cited By ~ 2

Author(s):

David Monciardini ◽

Nadia Bernaz ◽

Alexandra Andhov

Keyword(s):

Civil Society ◽

Stock Exchange ◽

Empirical Studies ◽

Organizational Dynamics ◽

Business Organizations ◽

Legal Compliance ◽

Organizational Responses ◽

Modern Slavery ◽

The Uk

Empirical studies indicate that business compliance with the UK Modern Slavery Act is disappointing, but they struggle to make sense of this phenomenon. This article offers a novel framework to understand how business organizations construct the meaning of compliance with the UK Modern Slavery Act. Our analysis builds on the endogeneity of law theory developed by Edelman. Empirically, our study is based on the analysis of the modern slavery statements of 10 FTSE 100 (Financial Times Stock Exchange 100 Index) companies in the food and tobacco sector, backed by interviews with business, civil society, and public officers. We offer a dynamic model that draws attention to the role of compliance professionals in framing ambiguous rules and devising a variety of organizational responses to modern slavery law. Contrary to extant research that tends to praise organizations for going “beyond compliance”, our study underlines the risks of managerialization of modern slavery law, whereby merely symbolic structures come to be associated with legal compliance, even when they are ineffective at tackling modern slavery.

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Modern slavery in supply chains: insights through strategic ambiguity

International Journal of Operations & Production Management ◽

10.1108/ijopm-05-2020-0292 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 41 (2) ◽

pp. 77-101

Author(s):

Joanne Meehan ◽

Bruce D. Pinnington

Keyword(s):

Supply Chain ◽

Supply Chains ◽

Design Methodology ◽

Content Type ◽

Sustainable Supply Chains ◽

Collaborative Action ◽

Modern Slavery ◽

The Status ◽

The Uk

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 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.

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Commentaries and Rejoinder on

Social Psychology ◽

10.1027/1864-9335/a000206 ◽

2014 ◽

Vol 45 (4) ◽

pp. 327-334 ◽

Cited By ~ 3

Author(s):

Han Gong ◽

Douglas L. Medin ◽

Tal Eyal ◽

Nira Liberman ◽

Yaacov Trope ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Moral Judgment ◽

Psychological Distance ◽

Temporal Distance ◽

Moral Cognition ◽

Cultural Systems ◽

Moral Condemnation ◽

Construal Levels

In the hope to resolve the two sets of opposing results concerning the effects of psychological distance and construal levels on moral judgment, Žeželj and Jokić (2014) conducted a series of four direct replications, which yielded divergent patterns of results. In our commentary, we first revisit the consistent findings that lower-level construals induced by How/Why manipulation lead to harsher moral condemnation than higher-level construals. We then speculate on the puzzling patterns of results regarding the role of temporal distance in shaping moral judgment. And we conclude by discussing the complexity of morality and propose that it may be important to incorporate cultural systems into the study of moral cognition.

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