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Lookup NU author(s): Professor Matthew GortonORCiD, Professor Fred Lemke
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (CC BY 4.0).
Multinational corporations (MNCs) are increasingly judged not only on their own social impacts but also on those of their supply chain partners. To reduce this environmental dependence, many MNCs implement social evaluations and codes of conduct which suppliers must follow. But how do MNCs legitimise and implement social evaluations in their supply chains? To address this, we draw on and augment resource dependence and legitimacy theories, to analyse a multinational grocery retailer’s implementation of labour standards for its fruit and vegetable suppliers. The case study utilises interviews, analysis of a database of audits, internal documents, and observational data. It provides the basis for theorizing corporate reputation as a resource dependency, with social evaluations a distinct means to co-opt external actors to preserve the focal organization’s autonomy while reducing environmental contingencies. The legitimacy of social evaluations of supply chain partners depends on processes that reconcile both moral and pragmatic concerns, allowing the focal organization to mitigate resource dependencies without ceding control over enforcement and enabling actions
Author(s): Gorton M, Kastenhofer K, Lemke F, Esquivel L, Nicolau M
Publication type: Article
Publication status: Published
Journal: Journal of Business Ethics
Year: 2023
Volume: 192
Pages: 729–744
Print publication date: 01/07/2024
Online publication date: 09/08/2023
Acceptance date: 25/07/2023
Date deposited: 21/08/2023
ISSN (print): 0167-4544
ISSN (electronic): 1573-0697
Publisher: Springer Dordrecht
URL: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10551-023-05509-7
DOI: 10.1007/s10551-023-05509-7
Data Access Statement: Data are not publicly available as it contains information that would compromise the anonymity of research participants.
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