Corporate codes of conduct and labour turnover in global apparel supply chains

Li, Chunyun ORCID: 0000-0001-5909-0889 and Kuruvilla, Sarosh (2022) Corporate codes of conduct and labour turnover in global apparel supply chains. British Journal of Industrial Relations, 61 (3). 481 - 505. ISSN 0007-1080

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Abstract

Research on private regulation of labour issues in global supply chains has focused extensively on whether supplier factories comply with the codes of conduct of global companies. Less is known about how such compliance relates to the preferences and behaviours of workers at export factories. This study analyses a unique dataset of factory audits matched with a survey of worker turnover rates from 622 factories in 28 countries supplying a large global apparel retailer. The results show that violations of the retailer's codes of conduct for suppliers are generally related to turnover, but that workers ‘vote with their feet’ primarily for violations of wages and benefits, relative to violations of other code provisions such as environment protection and safety standards. This ‘means-ends’ decoupling between factory practices and worker preferences implies that global firms need to incorporate the livelihood logic that underlies workers' turnover decisions while implementing their private regulation programmes.

Item Type:	Article
Official URL:	https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/journal/14678543
Additional Information:	© 2022 The Authors
Divisions:	Management
Subjects:	H Social Sciences > HD Industries. Land use. Labor
Date Deposited:	10 Aug 2022 16:51
Last Modified:	16 Nov 2024 20:30
URI:	http://eprints.lse.ac.uk/id/eprint/115962

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