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In this chapter, we critically interrogate Pakistani Higher Education Commission (HEC)'s “Policy Guidelines against Sexual Harassment in Institutions of Higher Learning” (HEC, 2011, 2020) to reveal that the policy represents a form of rhetorical genderwashing, rather than a concerted attempt to effect structural change (Fox-Kirk et al., 2020). Through this critical interrogation, we introduce a new methodological approach to investigate genderwashing, that of collaborative feminist policy analysis. This chapter is based on the theoretical framework of Sara Ahmed's concept of “institutional nonperformativity” (2012). Pakistan recognized workplace harassment as a legal issue for the first time in the 2010 Sexual Harassment Act (Jabbar & Imran, 2013). The Act, and subsequent policies, was an attempt to practice equity and fairness in sexual harassment cases. Our investigation revealed that the policy reinforces gender power inequality, gendered language, and is an example of institutional silence, and genderwashing in the workplace (Fox-Kirk et al., 2020).

Forced labour is one of the most exploitative practices in supply chains, generating serious human right abuses. The authors seek to understand how relationships for reducing forced labour are influenced by institutional logics. The emerging supply chain efforts of social enterprises offer particularly intriguing approaches, as their social mission can spur creative new approaches and reshape widely adopted management practices.

The authors study supplier relationships in the smartphone industry and compare the evolving practices of two cases: the first, a growing novel social enterprise; and the second, a high-profile commercial firm that has adopted a progressive role in combating forced labour.

The underlying institutional logic influenced each firm's willingness to act beyond its direct suppliers and to collaborate in flexible ways that create systematic change. Moreover, while both focal firms had clear, well-documented procedures related to forced labour, the integration, rather than decoupling, of forced labour and general supply chain policies provided a more effective way to reduce the risks of forced labour in social enterprises.

As authors’ comparative case study approach may lack generalizability, future research is needed to broadly test their propositions.

The paper identifies preconditions in terms of institutional logics to successfully reduce the risk of forced labour in supply chains.

This paper discusses how social enterprises can provide a learning laboratory that enables commercial firms to identify options for supplier relationship improvement.

This chapter presents a genderwashing critique of UK historic universities. Taking an interdisciplinary approach, it conceptualizes genderwashing and gender-based violence (GBV). Underpinned by feminist subjectivity, raising consciousness to women's situated lived experiences, examples of public declarations of gender equality by UK historic universities are considered alongside women's experiences of GBV. Using Walter's (2022) genderwash varieties, university hypocrisy is illustrated by women academic handmaidens, abuse of women in Professional Services, and women standing up to GBV. This chapter contributes “Eradicating and Silencing Women’”and “Asking the Minority to Fix It” as genderwash processes, theorizing how genderwashing (or genderbleaching) in historic universities not only perpetuates the falsehood of practicing equality but also provides a veil to conceal GBV.

Albeit gradual and uneven, the emergence of social and environmental reporting by publicly held corporations has been a major development in the last few decades. This paper aims to explore patterns of the emergence of these disclosures. Using an institutional theory lens, this paper considers mimetic, normative and coercive possibilities.

US publicly traded company data from 2013 to 2019 is used to test the hypotheses. Mimetic forces are proxied with corporate board interlock frequency. Normative ones use the extent of gender diversity on corporate boards. Measures of business climate and industry regulatory sensitivity proxy coercive potentiality.

Studied in isolation, each of the three forces through which organizations pursue the heightened legitimacy of enhanced environmental and social disclosures has credibility. The strongest support exists for mimetic and normative mechanisms, perhaps because the US government has been reluctant to make these expanded disclosures mandatory.

In the world of voluntary action, more attention to diffusion is needed. For these purposes, better proxies will be needed to study change. Social and environmental information should be separated for individual analysis.

At least in the USA, companies are attentive to what other companies are doing. There is something to be said for the ethical dimension of corporate transparency.

Governmental action in this area has not been effective, at current levels. Corporate leadership is essential. Critical information is shared about disclosure by board members.

Although institutional theory makes several appearances in this area, to the best of the authors’ knowledge, the current study is the first empirical archival study to examine the three forces simultaneously, providing evidence as to the relative magnitude of each institutional force on environmental and social disclosures. Should these disclosures not be mandated by government, this study shows pathways for enhanced disclosures to continue to spread.

Our chapter explores the impacts of genderwashing practices within Hockey Canada (HC), a national organization that governs major and minor hockey leagues in Canada. A 2018 case involving allegations of sexual assault by members of the U20 junior men's hockey team acted as a catalyst to expose HC's organizational practice of silencing victims and covering up bad behavior. Through the application of media content analysis, we argue that HC's responses to the case (financial settlements, Nondisclosure Agreements, and a new educational and training program) reflect genderwashing practices and exemplify a superficial attempt to address sexual violence within the organization. What results is a culture of silence, poor leadership, and the normalization of violence within HC. Our chapter contributes to the genderwashing literature, through the development and application of genderwashing as a conceptual framework that can be applied to responses to allegations of sexual assault.

This study investigates how global retailers develop sustainability through network interactions that influence institutionalized sustainability perceptions. The findings enable retailers to drive sustainability systematically and understand the critical internal and external issues.

The study investigates how retailers can work to increase support for sustainability through the normative, cognitive, and regulative institutional pillars. The network perspective suggests the need to offer relevant resources, involve influential actors and perform supporting activities to mobilise stakeholders. Empirically, qualitative case studies of IKEA and Hennes & Mauritz were conducted.

Based on the network and institutional perspectives, the study identified nine fields that retailers can use to develop sustainability internally and in their networks. The study shows that they can mobilise actors, resources, and activities to change institutionalised values and practices.

The developed model provides guidelines on how to systematically work with sustainability. The broad view developed is particularly relevant considering that most of the existing research on global firms and sustainability focuses on a narrow research problem without relating it to sustainability as a complex and overarching phenomenon.