What drives a systematic human rights management? : a multi-method study of large German companies

  • Under which conditions do multinational enterprises systematically manage human rights risks with a view to preventing human rights abuses across their operations? Using a multi-method research design combining qualitative comparative analysis (QCA)and process tracing case studies (PT-CS), this study of the 30 largest German companies finds that it is neither institutional forces nor stakeholder pressures alone, but their combined effect that leads to a systematic human rights management at the firm-level: That is, stakeholders (e.g. NGOs) as more proximate actors act on and transmit existing institutional pressures (e.g. social expectations) to firms, while institutions provide stakeholders with the legitimacy necessary to successfully influence corporate behaviour. This conjunctional effect implies that a systematic approach to human rights is more likely to be found among firms with consumer proximity. Why? It is a firm’s position in the value chain that determines the concrete configuration of institutional and stakeholder pressures for a company: Downstream the value chain in the B2C business, where institutional and stakeholder pressures are generally high due to greater public exposure, most companies systematically address human rights issues: These B2C firms are exposed to an institutional environment, where firms are not only socialised into newly-emerging CSR-topics like human rights through institutional learning in CSR initiatives like the UNGC, but also constantly monitored by civil society actors like NGOs whether they walk the talk (i.e. 1st path to a systematic human rights management). (...)

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Metadaten
Document Type:Doctoral Thesis
Language:English
Author(s):Carlo Manuel Drauth
Advisor:Anke Hassel, Andreas Rasche
Hertie Collections (Serial Number):Dissertations submitted to the Hertie School (03/2017)
Publication year:2017
Publishing Institution:Hertie School
Granting Institution:Hertie School
Thesis date:2017/05/09
Number pages:V, IV, 228
DOI:https://doi.org/10.48462/opus4-2306
Release Date:2017/08/04
Notes:
Shelf mark: 2017D005 + 2017D005+1
Hertie School Research:Publications PhD Researchers
Licence of document (German):Metadaten / metadata
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