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Private governance responsibilisation in global supply chains: the case of Rana Plaza

Javed Siddiqui (Alliance Manchester Business School, University of Manchester, Manchester, UK)
Kenneth McPhail (Alliance Manchester Business School, University of Manchester, Manchester, UK)
Sharmin Shabnam Rahman (BRAC University Business School, Dhaka, Bangladesh)

Accounting, Auditing & Accountability Journal

ISSN: 0951-3574

Article publication date: 1 July 2020

Issue publication date: 20 October 2020

1851

Abstract

Purpose

The paper explores the emergence of private sector responsibilisation for tackling governance issues in a global supply chain. The infamous case of the Rana Plaza collapse in Bangladesh is used to investigate the ways a frameshift, triggered by a manmade disaster, can potentially influence the effectiveness of the certification process in a research site characterised by the presence of a strong state-business nexus.

Design/methodology/approach

The empirical work for this paper is based 24 semi-structured interviews with owners, managers, operators, independent inspectors in the ready-made garments (RMG) industry in Bangladesh between 2014 and 2018. We also analyse a range of archival materials. For the purpose of data analysis, we adopted an exploratory flexible pattern matching design with nested template analysis (Sinkovics et al., 2019).

Findings

Our analysis suggests that the magnitude of the Rana Plaza collapse triggered several frameshifts in multinational corporations approach towards labour governance in Bangladesh. Subsequently, a responsibility framework for the private sector was created, resulting in significant improvements in working conditions in the sector. However, the sustainability of the labour governance mechanisms was significantly affected by the state's ability to play the role of catalyst in the process, mainly due to the presence of a significant state-business nexus.

Originality/value

We find that broadening the scope of sustainability accounting and assurance process can allow social auditors to play a more meaningful role in triggering collective actions to address labour governance issues in supply chains. However, in a context defined by the presence of a state-business nexus, the sustainability of such a process largely depends on the willingness of the state to play the role of a catalyst.

Keywords

Acknowledgements

This paper forms part of a special section Accounting for modern slavery, employees and work conditions in business, Guest edited by Katherine Christ, Roger Burritt and Stefan Schaltegger.

Citation

Siddiqui, J., McPhail, K. and Rahman, S.S. (2020), "Private governance responsibilisation in global supply chains: the case of Rana Plaza", Accounting, Auditing & Accountability Journal, Vol. 33 No. 7, pp. 1569-1594. https://doi.org/10.1108/AAAJ-05-2019-3993

Publisher

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Emerald Publishing Limited

Copyright © 2020, Emerald Publishing Limited

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