infonet-economy

The ongoing revelations on the exploitation of workers in the global supply chains of well-known brands including Adidas, H&M, Nike and others have put Western brands under pressure to ensure adequate working conditions at their suppliers' facilities. Yet, research on social issues in global supply chains has gained momentum only recently and few studies have connected the endeavors through which Western buyers address social issues along their supply chains with the outcome, social standard compliance of suppliers. We draw on multiple case studies based on supplier social audit reports from the Business Social Compliance Initiative focusing on four textile suppliers from Bangladesh and India to shed light on the determinants of suppliers' compliance with social standards. An inductive research approach is employed to derive a set of testable propositions focusing on how (enhanced) buyer social standard monitoring and the state of economic and institutional development of sourcing countries shape supplier social standard compliance.