Social Audits and Multinational Company Supply Chain: A Study of Rituals of Social Audits in the Bangladesh Garment Industry (original) (raw)

This paper explores the motivation for the use of social audits in the supply chains of multinational companies (MNCs) sourcing clothing products from a developing nation. We investigate the practice of social audits in the supply chains of MNCs based upon a range of interviews with key operatives within the garment industry in Bangladesh. Our results show that social audits are typically not advancing workers' rights but where there are advances, they occur because of the financial penalties that would otherwise be imposed on suppliers (through loss of contracts). Consistent with the notion of institutional decoupling, our results suggest that MNCs appear to use social audits as an instrument to maintain and re-establish their legitimacy rather than ensuring accountability to workers (who are the most affected stakeholders). This is the first known study that investigates how social audits are undertaken by MNCs sourcing products from a developing nation; the implications this has for supply chain claims; what motivations drive the adoption of such audits and what, if anything, are the likely outcomes from the process.