Premium
Codes in context: How states, markets, and civil society shape adherence to global labor standards
Author(s) -
Toffel Michael W.,
Short Jodi L.,
Ouellet Melissa
Publication year - 2015
Publication title -
regulation and governance
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.417
H-Index - 45
eISSN - 1748-5991
pISSN - 1748-5983
DOI - 10.1111/rego.12076
Subject(s) - multinational corporation , context (archaeology) , civil society , corporate governance , certification , global governance , treaty , freedom of association , supply chain , business , transnational governance , state (computer science) , international trade , market economy , economics , industrial organization , political science , human rights , law , marketing , finance , paleontology , algorithm , politics , computer science , biology
Transnational business regulation is increasingly implemented through private voluntary programs – such as certification regimes and codes of conduct – that diffuse global standards. However, little is known about the conditions under which companies adhere to these standards. We conduct one of the first large‐scale comparative studies to determine which international, domestic, civil society, and market institutions promote supply chain factories' adherence to the global labor standards embodied in codes of conduct imposed by multinational buyers. We find that suppliers are more likely to adhere when they are embedded in states that participate actively in the International Labour Organization treaty regime and that have stringent domestic labor law and high levels of press freedom. We further demonstrate that suppliers perform better when they serve buyers located in countries where consumers are wealthy and socially conscious. These findings suggest the importance of overlapping state, civil society, and market governance regimes to meaningful transnational regulation.