FUNDACAO GETULIO VARGAS
ESCOLA DE ADMINISTRACAO DE EMPRESAS DE SAO PAULO
VICTORIA BRUNHARA ESQUILAR
MADE BY SLAVE LABOR:
Are apparel supply chains transparently accepting modern slavery?
SAO PAULO
2021
VICTORIA BRUNHARA ESQUILAR
MADE BY SLAVE LABOR:
Are apparel supply chains transparently accepting modern slavery?
Dissertacao de mestrado apresentada a Escola de
Administracao de Empresas de Sao Paulo da
Fundacao Getulio Vargas como requisito para
obtencao do titulo de Mestre em Administracao
de Empresas.
Linha de pesquisa: Gestão de Operações e
Sustentabilidade.
Orientador: Prof. Ely Laureano Paiva, Dr.
Coorientador: Prof. Chen Yen-Tsang, Dr.
SAO PAULO
2021
Esquilar, Victoria Brunhara.
Made by slave labor: are apparel supply chains transparently accepting modern slavery? / Victoria Brunhara Esquilar. - 2021.
76 f.
Orientador: Ely Laureano Paiva. Co-orientador: Yen-Tsang Chen.
Dissertação (mestrado CMAE) – Fundação Getulio Vargas, Escola de Administração de Empresas de São Paulo.
1. Logística empresarial. 2. Trabalho escravo. 3. Responsabilidade social da empresa. 4. Indústria têxtil. I. Paiva, Ely Laureano. II. Chen, Yen-Tsang. III. Dissertação (mestrado CMAE) – Escola de Administração de Empresas de São Paulo. IV. Fundação Getulio Vargas. V. Título.
CDU 658.86/.87
Ficha Catalográfica elaborada por: Isabele Oliveira dos Santos Garcia CRB SP-010191/O
Biblioteca Karl A. Boedecker da Fundação Getulio Vargas - SP
VICTORIA BRUNHARA ESQUILAR
MADE BY SLAVE LABOR:
Are apparel supply chains transparently accepting modern slavery?
Dissertacao de mestrado apresentada a Escola de
Administracao de Empresas de Sao Paulo da
Fundacao Getulio Vargas como requisito para
obtencao do titulo de Mestre em Administracao
de Empresas.
Linha de pesquisa: Gestão de Operações e
Sustentabilidade.
Data de avaliação: 23/09/2021
Banca de avaliação:
_____________________________________
Prof. Ely Laureano Paiva, Dr. (Orientador)
FGV/EAESP
_____________________________________
Prof. Chen Yen-Tsang, Dr. (Coorientador)
NEOMA Business School
_____________________________________
Prof. Leonardo Marques, Dr.
COPPEAD/ UFRJ
_____________________________________
Prof. Paulo Roberto Arvate, Dr.
FGV/EAESP
AGRADECIMENTOS
A minha jornada no mestrado foi de muito aprendizado, não só acadêmico, mas também de
vida. Acredito que me desenvolvi muito nos últimos anos e devo isto à contribuição de pessoas
muito generosas.
Agradeço aos meus pais, Marli e Carlos, por todo o apoio incentivo nesta etapa e em toda
a minha vida. Vocês foram extensa fonte de inspiração para que conseguisse trilhar este caminho.
Agradeço também a minha avó, Aparecida, pelo apoio e por tentar entender as minhas ausências.
Meus sinceros agradecimentos ao meu orientador, Professor Ely Laureano Paiva, que
acreditou em mim e teve bastante paciência em me ajudar a manter o foco. Agradeço também por
compartilhar comigo um pouco do seu extenso conhecimento, pelas ideias, reflexões e
contribuições que formaram a essência deste trabalho. Espero ter conseguido corresponder, muito
obrigada!
Ao Professor Chen Yen-Tsang, que aceitou colaborar com este trabalho como coorientador
e foi peça chave para a conclusão. Muito obrigada pelas contribuições e pelo empenho em me
ajudar no design do experimento, sua ajuda foi essencial para que eu conseguisse seguir com a
metodologia escolhida. Também contribuíram com a metodologia deste trabalho, e com o meu
desenvolvimento durante o mestrado, as professoras Barbara Flynn, Priscila Miguel, Susana
Pereira, e Rosana Tondolo.
Aos membros da banca avaliadora, professores Leonardo Marques e Paulo Arvate,
agradeço o tempo e dedicação em contribuir com o meu trabalho. Agradeço ao Leonardo, também,
pelas colaborações na banca de qualificação e na coleta de dados.
A minha mentora, Lucimara Ferreira, que me acompanhou por momentos decisivos neste
processo. Sempre me ajudando a manter o foco no presente, enquanto pensávamos os próximos
passos.
Aos meus colegas e amigos da FGV, Cecilia, Cristina, Deborah, Fernando e Kenyth,
compartilhar essa caminhada com vocês foi muito prazeroso. Cada disciplina, conversa e até os
cafezinhos me ajudaram a entender melhor o processo acadêmico, e expandir a minha visão de
mundo.
Agradeço aos meus amigos que me apoiaram e incentivaram nessa jornada, além de
entenderem as ausências necessárias em alguns momentos. Em especial, agradeço a Raphaela e a
Renata, que contribuíram diretamente para a realização deste trabalho com comentários e ajuda na
coleta de dados e entrevistas.
Não poderia fechar os agradecimentos sem falar dos respondentes e entrevistados. A
realização desta pesquisa só foi possível graças à colaboração deles. Essas pessoas compartilharam
do seu tempo e conhecimento para que este estudo pudesse ser concluído, a elas o meu muito
obrigada!
Nota: O presente trabalho foi realizado com apoio do CNPq, Conselho Nacional de
Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico – Brasil.
ABSTRACT
Modern slavery occurrence in supply chains is intrinsically related to purchase functions.
Nevertheless, literatures of modern slavery in supply chains and socially responsible sourcing have
not explored the link between supplier selection and potential presence of modern slavery in supply
chains. In an attempt to fill this gap, this research has focused on Brazilian textile industry. A
controlled experiment using discrete choice analysis, scenario-based role playing, and priming was
conducted with 82 working professionals experienced in supplier selection for fashion retailers.
Results provide strong evidence of traceability relevance to supplier selection, yielding to
evidence of managerial and practice incorporation of transparency agenda. Both manipulation and
control groups ranked traceability of finished product and fabric as the two most important
attributes, accounting respectively for 48% and 22% in manipulation group and 44% and 24% in
control group.
Keywords: Modern slavery; supply chain; socially responsible sourcing; discrete choice
experiment
RESUMO
A ocorrência da escravagismo moderno em cadeias de suprimentos está intrinsecamente
relacionada às funções de compra. No entanto, a literatura de escravagismo moderno em cadeias
de suprimentos e de seleção de fornecedores socialmente responsável não exploram a ligação entre
a seleção de fornecedores e a presença potencial de escravagismo moderno em cadeias de
suprimentos. Na tentativa de preencher essa lacuna, esta pesquisa teve como foco a indústria têxtil
brasileira. Um experimento controlado baseado em vinheta, priming, e análise de escolha discreta
foi conduzido com 82 profissionais experientes em seleção de fornecedores para varejistas de
moda.
Os resultados fornecem fortes evidências da relevância da rastreabilidade para a seleção de
fornecedores, proporcionando evidências da incorporação gerencial e prática da agenda de
transparência. Os grupos de manipulação e controle classificaram a rastreabilidade do produto
acabado e do tecido como os dois atributos mais importantes, respondendo respectivamente por
48% e 22% no grupo de manipulação e 44% e 24% no grupo de controle.
Palavras-chave: Escravagismo moderno; Cadeias de suprimentos; Seleção de fornecedores
socialmente responsável; Experimento de escolha discreta
LIST OF TABLES
Table 1 – Level of balance ............................................................................................................ 33
Table 2 – Sample description ........................................................................................................ 36
Table 3 – Sample working experience .......................................................................................... 36
Table 4 – Descriptive results for manipulation checks ................................................................. 37
Table 5 – ANOVA of manipulation checks .................................................................................. 37
Table 6 – Attributes' levels codefication ....................................................................................... 38
Table 7 – Discrete choice .............................................................................................................. 40
Table 8 – Attributes’ importance .................................................................................................. 41
Table 9 – Attribute levels utilities ................................................................................................. 43
Table 10 – ABVTEX conditional logistic regression ................................................................... 47
LIST OF FIGURES
Figure 1 - Finished product traceability - Manipulation group .................................................... 44
Figure 2 - Finished product traceability - Control group .............................................................. 44
Figure 3 - Fabric traceability - Manipulation group ..................................................................... 45
Figure 4 - Fabric traceability - Control group .............................................................................. 45
TABLE OF CONTENTS
1. INTRODUCTION ................................................................................................................... 12
2. THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK ......................................................................................... 13
2.1. Modern slavery .................................................................................................................. 13
2.1.1. Social issues and modern slavery........................................................................ 15
2.1.2. Modern slavery in supply chains ........................................................................ 16
2.1.3. Socially responsible sourcing ............................................................................. 17
2.1.4. Detection and remediation .................................................................................. 17
2.2. Transparency ...................................................................................................................... 19
2.2.1. Reputational Risk ................................................................................................ 20
2.2.2. Conflict of interest .............................................................................................. 22
2.2.3. Collaboration and contract duration .................................................................... 23
2.2.4. Complexity and distance ..................................................................................... 23
2.2.5. Legislation ........................................................................................................... 24
2.2.6. Critiques .............................................................................................................. 26
2.3. Hypothesis development .................................................................................................... 27
3. METHOD ................................................................................................................................. 28
3.1. Experimental vignette methodology .................................................................................. 28
3.2. Manipulation ...................................................................................................................... 29
3.3. Discrete choice experiment ................................................................................................ 30
3.3.1. Interviews with specialists .................................................................................. 30
3.3.2. Choice set design ................................................................................................ 32
3.4. Dependent variable ............................................................................................................ 33
3.5. Population and sample ....................................................................................................... 34
3.6. Data collection ................................................................................................................... 35
4. RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONS ............................................................................................ 35
4.1. Sample description ............................................................................................................. 35
4.2. Reliability ........................................................................................................................... 36
4.3. Manipulation checks .......................................................................................................... 37
4.4. Discrete choice analysis ..................................................................................................... 38
5. CONCLUSIONS ...................................................................................................................... 48
5.1. Limitations and future research ......................................................................................... 48
REFERENCES ............................................................................................................................ 50
APPENDICES .............................................................................................................................. 61
Appendix A – Research protocol (Portuguese) ........................................................................ 61
12
1. INTRODUCTION
Until the late 1990s Nike Inc. [Nike] has had many issues over its labor practices and several
allegations of modern slavery, child labor and sweatshop abuses. It got so prominent that Philip H.
Knight, Nike's CEO said, “The Nike product has become synonymous with slave wages, forced
overtime and arbitrary abuse” (The Washington Post, 1998). This statement occurred in a speech
introducing some of Nike’s new initiatives on labor conditions, as a response to human rights
campaigners, public shaming, and consumer pressure.
From 1998 on, Nike has developed various initiatives to tackle social issues in its supply
chain. One of Nike’s most market change initiative occurred fifteen years ago. A turnover on the
brand’s image begun in 2005, when Nike took the lead of transparency and disclosed the list of its
global contract factories. From that time on, Nike became a case of success in both transparency
and reputation management. That transparency leadership brought to Nike media, consumer, and
academic attention. Transparency was said to improve corporate conduct and pressure competitors
to do the same (Doorey, 2011), in a belief that consumers care about ethics, environmental impact,
quality and safety in the supply chains of the products they buy (New, 2010).
Fifteen years have passed, and Nike is, still, facing allegations against working conditions
in its supply chain. China has been accused of detaining more than a million Uighurs, a Muslim
minority group, in internment camps defined by the government as “re-education camps”. One of
the allegations is of slave labor in Xinjiang, China. Xinjiang produces 80% of China’s cotton,
which is about 20% of the world’s supply. Because of the vast cotton production in the region,
activist campaign is focusing on clothing brands. Nike is one of the companies accused of having
ties with Xinjiang’s suppliers. While the company acknowledges the issue and reports to be
working with stakeholders and other brands to address it, US Congress is considering legislations
to ban imports from the region (British Broadcasting Corporation - BBC, 2020).
As potential presence of modern slavery in buyer firm’s supply chains is, commonly, linked
to its suppliers (New, 2015), thus is linked to procurement function and supplier selection (Roberts,
2003). Kim, Coliccha and Menachof (2018) and Zorzini, Hendry Anisul and Huq (2015)
acknowlwdge that textile and agricultural sectors received the broadest academic scrutiny.
Probably due to an intensive labor nature of those industries (Gold, Trautrims and Trodd, 2015;
Zorzini et al., 2015). As some fabrics used in textile production, such as cotton, have its provenance
13
in agriculture, textile sector face potential modern slavery occurrence in many tiers upstream in its
supply chains.
The following research question guided this dissertation: What is the relative importance
of traceability in supplier selection, considering a potential presence of modern slavery?
To answer this question, I established three research objectives:
1. To understand the relative importance of the attributes in supplier selection of textile
focal firms.
2. To explore the influence of potential presence of modern slavery in supply chains
to buyers’ preference among supplier criteria.
3. To measure the impact of suppliers’ willingness to provide traceability to buyers’
decision.
To address the research questions and objectives a controlled experiment using discrete choice
analysis, scenario-based role playing, and priming will be conducted.
2. THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK
2.1. Modern slavery
Servitude, trafficking, forced labor and slavery are concepts that sometimes are used
interchangeably, which creates a “multifaced continuum” of exploitation forms (Quirk, 2006, p.
577). The term modern slavery is the most commonly used in management research (Caruana,
Crane, Gold and LeBaron, 2020). Modern slavery is used to describe a wide range of exploitative
practices (Gold et al., 2015; New, 2015).
Caruana et al. (2020) built on the International Labor Organization & Walk Free Foundation
(2017, p. 9) definition of modern slavery as “situations of exploitation that a person cannot refuse
or leave because of threats, violence, coercion, deception, and/or abuse of power”. However, the
authors do not include forced marriage and acknowledge economic coercion as an important factor
shaping modern slavery. In the supply chain management literature the term is defined as the
“exploitation of a person who is deprived of individual liberty anywhere along the supply chain,
from raw material extraction to the final customer, for the purpose of service provision or
production” (Gold et al., 2015, p. 487).
Gold et al. (2015, pp. 488 - 489) points out several signals that serve as a warning system
for supply chain managers, certification bodies and auditing personnel of the risk of modern slavery
14
occurrence (i.e. low worker protection due to inadequate laws, enforcement, and government
accountability; high percentage of working poor; lack of other employment opportunities and
domination of labor market by one or a few employers; agent-based recruitment of laborer; social
acceptance of worker exploitation; widespread discrimination against certain groups of workers;
high percentage of migrants or minorities in the workforce; location of production activities in
conflict zones; and high proportion of low skilled labor in industries such as raw material extracting
and/or processing).
Slavery legal abolition in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries shifted the practice from
legal and officially approved to be criminalized and marginalized to the informal economy (Quirk,
2006). Thereby, contemporary anti-slavery attempts have a series of conceptual and practical
issues, such as categorizing slavery (Quirk, 2006), understanding processes, conditions and
dynamics that generate modern slavery (Barrientos et al., 2013), detecting and remediating (Gold
et al., 2015; Stevenson & Cole, 2018).
A seminal work establishing a connection between modern slavery and business is authored
by Crane (2013). The author proposes the “theory of slavery as a management practice”. Crane
build on the four conditions defined by the nongovernmental organization Anti-Slavery
International to propose that “under modern slavery people are (1) forced to work through threat;
(2) owned or controlled by an “employer,” typically through mental, physical, or threatened abuse;
(3) dehumanized and treated as a commodity; and (4) physically constrained or restricted in
freedom of movement.” Due to its focus on the business side, the author also includes a fifth
dimension of economic exploitation – “(5) subject to economic exploitation through
underpayment.” In essence, “slavery is an attempt to underprice a key resource (labor) through
illegitimate means” (Crane, 2013, p. 51).
Crane (2013) develops his theory based on the institutional theory and capabilities
literature. “Institutional deflection” (Crane, 2013, p. 51) relates to how enterprises, through
illegitimate practices, succeed in achieve underprice labor, contradicting isomorphism. This
deflection depends on organization’s competences to influence and exploit conditions that
perpetuates slavery. Those conditions are related to industry, socioeconomic, geographic, cultural
and regulatory contexts. Thus, modern slavery as a management practice is more likely to occur in
high labor intensity and low technological industries; socioeconomic contexts with high poverty
15
and high unemployment rates; physical, political, or psychological distant geographic contexts;
and regulatory contexts of weak public governance and private or civil regulation.
Even though it’s focuses on the organizations that deploy slavery and its environments, the
author acknowledges the link of supply chains in the issue. Crane posits that “a conducive industry
context (namely, high labor intensity, low value distribution, high elasticity of demand, low
industry legitimacy, and high regional clustering) will lead to a greater likelihood that enterprises
will adopt slavery” following by “this effect will be moderated by supply chain interventions”
(Crane, 2013, p. 55). According to the author, those supply chain interventions can damper or
amplify the effect of industry context. While private regulation and affordable credit can damper,
contracting unregulated or informal suppliers and forcing prices down can amplify it.
2.1.1. Social issues and modern slavery
Modern slavery in supply chains has been discussed by sustainable supply chain
management (Miemczyk & Luzzini, 2019), socially sustainable supply chain (Croom, Vidal,
Spetic, Marshall, McCarthy, 2018), social issues (Yawar & Seuring, 2017), responsible sourcing
(Shao et al., 2020) and supply chain risk management (Pournader, Kach, Talluri, 2020). Along with
many other social issues such as poor working conditions (Lam, 2018), child labor (Cho, Fang,
Tayur, Xu, 2019), health and safety (Klassen & Vereecke, 2012), social inclusion (German,
Bonanno, Foster, Cotula, 2020) and gender inequalities (Maertens & Swinnen, 2012). However,
New (2015) dedicates his paper to discuss differences between CSR-related issues and modern
slavery, claiming that firm’s approaches to CRS-related issues may foster modern slavery. The
issue is different due to its hidden and criminal nature along with its dependency on third party
labor agencies (Crane, LeBaron, Allain, Behbahani, 2019; New, 2015; Stevenson & Cole, 2018).
According to the authors, modern slavery in supply chains should be tackled separately. Also, “[the
supply chain management literature] is predicated on understanding formal, relatively transparent,
product supply chains, which means that much of the extant theory is limited in its ability to
adequately conceptualize modern slavery issues” (Caruana et al., 2020, p. 15).
One example of the potential negative effects of treating modern slavery as an CRS-related
problem is acknowledged by LeBaron and Rühmkorf in their study comparing two home state
regulations, the UK Bribery Act and Modern Slavery Act (2017, p. 15):
16
We find that legislation that creates criminal corporate liability appears to spur deeper
changes to corporate strategy and argue that in the case of the Modern Slavery Act, the
triumph of voluntary reporting over more stringent public [labor] standards seems to have
undermined the effectiveness of recent governance initiatives to address forced [labor] in
global supply chains.
Caruana et al. (2020) alert for the two sides of the distinctiveness of modern slavery. In one
stream, scholars treat modern slavery along with other social issues, thus, disregarding any critical
difference and applying the usual tools to investigate it. In the other stream, scholars overemphasize
the uniqueness of the problem and refute all the knowledge that already exists about supply chain
irresponsibility, poor working conditions, and human right abuses. This research attempt to
consider both sides of the particularity of modern slavery, while focusing only on this issue, it
drawn on knowledge developed by sustainable supply chain management.
2.1.2. Modern slavery in supply chains
There are a broad consensus that modern slavery is widespread however, it is extremely
difficult to verify its scale (New, 2015) as it is a criminal activity outlawed everywhere (Gold et
al., 2015; New, 2015). Sex trafficking and domestic servitude are types of modern slavery that have
had more attention and press coverage (Gold et al., 2015; New, 2015) but by shifting the focus to
forced labor it is necessary to extent attention to supply chains (Gold et al., 2015).
Modern slavery has been neglected by management (Crane, 2013) and supply chain
researchers (Gold et al., 2015; New, 2015). But the lately attention given to the issue by civil
society, policy makers, some business leaders and the general public have prompt scholarly interest
(Caruana et al., 2020). By shedding light on the fact that most slaves are the work force of simple
and non-technological tasks such as agricultural, mining and textile manufacture, Gold et al. (2015)
points out the relationship between modern slavery and supply chain management.
While Gold et al. (2015) were calling future research to conceptualize the challenges of
modern slavery focusing on capabilities and institutional context, Caruana et al. (2020, p. 9) explicit
that little advance was made: “[r]ather than seeing modern slavery as an aberration or an
unexpected feature of global supply chains, SCM research could shift toward identifying the forms,
contexts, and dynamics of SCM in which modern slavery is likely to emerge in more or less
predictable ways”.
17
2.1.3. Socially responsible sourcing
For over a decade, scholars have called for research in supplier selection to include
sustainability (Reuter et al., 2010). As sustainability concerns are continuously increasing influence
on corporate strategies (Carter & Rogers, 2008). Pagell, Wu and Wasserman (2010, p. 58) term as
sustainable sourcing “[m]anaging all aspects of the upstream component of the supply chain to
maximize triple bottom line performance.” Even though sustainable sourcing is concerned with
both social, environmental, and economic sustainability, research have emphasized environmental
and economic aspects of sustainability. To field this gap, some research lines focusing on social
aspects have arisen.
Many synonyms are present in the literature, such as “ethical sourcing” (Chen & Slotnick,
2015, 2015; Chen & Lee, 2017; Kim et al., 2018; Kim & Chae, 2021; Roberts, 2003), “purchasing
social responsibility” (Blome & Paulraj, 2013; Carter, 2005; Carter & Jennings, 2004), “socially
responsible purchasing” (Cole & Aitken, 2019, 2020; Saunders, Tate, Zsidisin and Miemczyk,
2019), “socially responsible supplier selection” (Griffis, Autry, Thornton and Brik, 2014;
Thornton, Autry, Gligor and Brik, 2013).
Socially responsible sourcing is defined by Zorzini et al. (2015, p. 60) “as the upstream
social issues within the sustainability literature, where social issues include human rights,
community development and ethical issues but exclude environmental concerns.” Researches in
the field mention modern slavery (Sayed et al., 2020) and forced labor (Roberts, 2003) but any
have centered research context in modern slavery occurrence.
2.1.4. Detection and remediation
“Many firms use the same practices to detect and remediate modern slavery as for other
social issues” (Stevenson & Cole, 2018, p. 81). “Due to a lack of effective indicators, new tools
and indicator systems need to be developed that consider the specific social, cultural and
geographical context of supply regions” (Gold et al., 2015, p. 485). Also, more innovative
approaches are needed due to intermediary labor agencies and the hidden and criminal nature of
modern slavery (Stevenson & Cole, 2018).
Collaboration (Benstead, Hendry and Stevenson, 2018; Stevenson & Cole, 2018) and multi-
stakeholder partnerships (Gold et al., 2015) are pointed out as approaches to detect and remediate
modern slavery in supply chains. Gold et al. (2015) discuss community-centered approaches,
18
supplier development initiatives and multi-stakeholder partnerships as possibly effective responses
to detection of slavery. Benstead et al. (2018, p. 2305) studying horizontal collaboration proposes
that:
[I]n the case of modern slavery, new legislation is combined with media scrutiny and NGO
pressure, leading to a collaborative response that generates relational rents in the form of
cost savings, knowledge sharing, new capabilities and enhanced reputation, thus achieving
socially sustainable competitive advantage.
Supply chain auditing is questioned by researchers but, targeted audit, a type of audit that
includes reviewing recruitment process of the entire chain and interviewing workers, can detect
indicators of modern slavery (Benstead, Hendry and Stevenson, 2020). Moreover, NGOs and small
service firms are not exclusive in the intermediary role of audit. Fransen and LeBaron (2019, p.
274) argue that Big Four audit fimrs are “politically active in regulatory policymaking processes”
regarding modern slavery governance.
Mechanisms of private governance that intent do regulate labor issues also have limited
effectiveness. Wilhelm, Kadfak, Bhakoo and Skattang (2020), in their study of private and civil
society responses to the modern slavery scandal in the Thai fishing industry, focus on three
responses: ethical recruitment, worker grievance mechanisms and worker associations. According
to the authors, ethical recruitment in the fishing industry has the barriers of high percentage of
migrant workers and the brokerage fees involved in the process of recruitment and migration.
Workers usually pay a recruitment-fee which mix costs of recruitment and migration, which
is commonly seen as the main cause of modern slavery. Main barrier in the exclusion of
recruitment-fees is that employers and vessel owners are concerned migrant workers might move
to other sectors once they are in Thailand. The ability of worker grievance mechanisms to be
effective is undermined by lack of trust from workers and inability of government and NGOs to
properly handle complaitns. Regulation in Thailand does not allow workers to organise and form
labor uninons, dirgedaring ILO conventions (Wilhelm et al., 2020).
All those particularities form the backdrop of dificulties in remediate and extinguish
modern slavery in supply chains. While Benstead et al. (2020, p. 1) provide evidence of a
remediation process “which includes partnering with a local NGO to empower workers and
collaboratively develop suppliers.” Wilhelm et al.(2020) call for attention to the economic power
19
multinational corporations and government from the Global North have in strengthen laws and
regulations regarding modern slavery in sourcing countries.
2.2. Transparency
Literature and regulations are pointing transparency as the mechanism to abolish modern
slavery from supply chains (Benstead et al., 2018; Birkey, Guidry, Islam and Patten, 2018; Flynn,
2020; Gold et al., 2015; Stevenson & Cole, 2018). Most of the argument consist in the assumption
that opening supply chain partners and practices for public scrutiny will encourage buyers to be
more aware of what is going on under their supply chains (Doorey, 2011).
Transparency has been presented as a mechanism to improve business behavior (Doorey,
2011; Gold & Heikkurinen, 2018). Accountability discusses transparency for longer than supply
chain management, Bushman (2004, p. 210) defines as the “widespread availability of firm-specific
information concerning publicly listed firms in the economy to those outside the firm”. Egels-
Zandén, Hulthén and Wulff (2015, p. 95) defines Supply Chain Transparency as “disclosure of
information about supplier names, sustainability conditions at suppliers, and buyers’ purchasing
practices”. While Sodhi and Tang (2019, p. 2946) highlight stakeholder’s interest, “by
transparency, we mean a company disclosing information to consumers, investors, and other
stakeholders about compliance with consumer-expected norms in its supply chain operations and
products”.
The term “supply chain transparency” has often been used interchangeably with other key
concepts: visibility, traceability and disclosure (Montecchi, Plangger and West, 2021). c provides
clear distinction between those terms. Supply chain visibility “refer to managers’ efforts to gather
information about operations upstream and downstream in their supply chains” while
“[T]raceability is a particular aspect of visibility, being the capability of a company for ascertaining
provenance.” “[W]hether or not the company discloses any of this information to the public is a
matter of transparency.”
There are several reasons why a firm may seek to provide transparency. Brand positioning
and marketing, as consumers take greater interest in provenance and authenticity, retailers have
new ways to increase brand value (New, 2010). Trust, providing supply chain transparency can
enhance trust among consumers and investors (MacLean & Rebernak, 2007; Sodhi & Tang, 2019).
20
Stakeholders demands, as consumers, governments and supply chain partners are increasingly
demanding details about the systems and sources under which its goods or services are supplied
(New, 2010). “Companies that fail to open their supply chains to public inspection will find that
others will do it for them” also, social media have changed how activists raise public awareness
(New, 2010, p. 79). Likewise, New (2015) state that forced labor and modern slavery conditions
across supply chains is a problem that calls for more transparency.
2.2.1. Reputational Risk
Risk events may have damaging effects for buyers (Giannakis & Papadopoulos, 2016). The
social, ecological and ethical problems that exist in supply chains may cause buyers to experience
serious losses (Hofmann, Schleper and Blome, 2014). A potential consequence of supplier
sustainability risk for buyers is reputational damage (Foerstl, Reuter, Hartmann and Blome, 2010).
Roehrich, Grosvold and Hoejmose (2014) actually present supplier sustainability risk as a
reputational risk.
Taking the “supplier sustainability risk” perspective (Foerstl et al., 2010; Hajmohammad &
Vachon, 2016; Hofmann et al., 2014), the risk of modern slavery occurrence is connected with
potential stakeholders reactions rather than the occurrence per se. Hofmann et al. (2014, p. 168)
define sustainability-related risk “as a condition or a potentially occurring event that may provoke
harmful stakeholder reactions”. And Hajmohammad and Vachon (2016, p. 48) term supplier
sustainability risk “the potential negative impacts on a buyer from its suppliers’ ecological or social
misconducts”.
From those definitions it is clear that sustainability risks are linked with stakeholders. And
it is not always connected with a fact; a potential event may cause a potential negative impact as
well as an event that has actually happened in a supplier might not cause negative impact for the
buyer. Hajmohammad and Vachon (2016, p. 50) go forward in explaining the potential event as
“cumulative by nature - it is a sustainability-related supplier misconduct (event 1) detected by
concerned stakeholders (event 2) who decide to communicate it broadly (event 3)”. Reputational
risk is not only concerned with suppliers but also with supply chain partners (Fracarolli Nunes. Lee
Park and Paiva, 2020; Villena & Gioia, 2018; Wilhelm, Blome, Bhakoo and Pauraj, 2016).
Likewise, there is an assumption in the modern slavery literature that, firms face
reputational risk when modern slavery practices are found in its supply chains (Benstead et al.,
21
2018; Cole & Aitken, 2019; Flynn, 2020; Gold et al., 2015; New, 2015; Stevenson & Cole, 2018).
Reputational risk of modern slavery occurrence is being presented by scholars under various forms
of justification for a slavery free supply chain:
1. Reputational threats such as supermarkets Carrefour, Tesco and Walmart selling prawns
produced under modern slavery conditions (Gold et al., 2015);
2. Relational rents gains generated through horizontal collaboration in response to modern
slavery legislation (Benstead et al., 2018);
3. Demonstrations of goal congruence and reduction of reputational risk when engaging in
socially responsible purchasing (Cole & Aitken, 2019);
4. Improvement of social and financial performance (Shafiq, Ahmed and Mahmoodi, 2020);
5.Improvement of training and worker education (Huq, Chowdhury and Anisul, 2016).
The optimistic view of the reputational risk expected that stakeholder’s pressure would
incentivize firms to ensure that modern slavery did not occur in its supply chains. Crane (2013)
proposes that weak governance and low attention to slavery lead to a greater likelihood of modern
slavery occurrence, moderated by civil or private regulation. Likewise, Gold et at. (2015) state that
companies will stop neglecting modern slavery as soon as civil society and new legislation impose
litigation and reputational risks. Barrientos (2013) argue for extended liability across global value
chains, and Shao, Ryan and Sun (2020, p. 23), in their study of responsible sourcing below
asymmetric information, argue that “an alternative approach that government agencies and NGOs
could take to encourage more socially responsible sourcing, that is, in addition to promoting
socially conscious consumption among consumers, these organizations could facilitate the process
of supplier disclosure […]”.
Brands being pushed towards assuming responsibility for what is happening in their supply
chains can put reputation at stake (Gold & Heikkurinen, 2018). Caruana et. al (2020) discusses the
potential drawback of the “business case” for socially responsible behavior that can lead to
overlook modern slavery in terms of a “mere” reputational risk. The reputational risk of modern
slavery occurrence leading to stakeholders’ reactions is being taken for granted.
In the modern slavery literature on sustainable supply chain management, ensuring a
slavery-free supply chain also is discussed under the paradigm of profit maximization (Gold et al.,
2015; Stevenson & Cole, 2018). The investments in securing working conditions trade-off against
22
reputational and litigation risks (Gold et al., 2015). Likewise, Stevenson and Cole (2018, p. 94)
when discussing transparency reports consider that, in a cynical view, firms “[…] need to trade off
the potential reputation and competitive gains from being more transparent than the competition,
against the reputational risk should their statement be falsified or against the potential loss of
competitive advantage from information leakage”.
2.2.2. Conflict of interest
Most of the literature on modern slavery in business and in supply chain to date “tends to
provide unhelpful caricatures of modern slavery, for example, as good/bad for business, as simply
an economic externality […]”(Caruana et al., 2020, p. 2). This fact leads scholars to overlook
conflicts of interest between suppliers and focal company, procurement and board level functions
and focal company and shareholders. Jaiswal and Ha-Brookshire (2020) acknowledge power
imbalance in the Indian apparel market and found that when multinational buyers attempt to use
power to advance compliance goals, suppliers were only extrinsically motivated and therefore
transparency mechanisms were under-developed. And Villena and Dhanorkar (2020) studying
institutional pressures on climate change incentives reveals that suppliers with incentives are more
susceptible to accept normative pressures on carbon transparency requirements.
Crane (2013) proposes that a conducive industry context leads to modern slavery adoption
and that effect is moderated by supply chain interventions. However, supply chain interventions
may not be well aligned to combat modern slavery occurrence, for example, when buyers exert
business power to reduce costs or when suppliers offer resistance because they “fear higher labor
costs” (Wilhelm et al., 2020, p. 5). And even when the focal company incentivize (Villena &
Dhanorkar, 2020) or pressure (Jaiswal & Ha-Brookshire, 2020) its suppliers towards sustainability
and transparency goals, results may not be as expected.
Studies on shareholders and stock market responses have not found promising results
regarding transparency and modern slavery avoidance. Birkey et al. (2018) found significant
negative stock market reaction to the passing of transparency legislation in California. While
Jacobs and Singhal (2017) found no significant stock market reaction to the Rana Plaza disaster,
suggesting that firms have little economic incentive to revise its sourcing strategies. Even within
the firm, conflicts of interest may arise and spoil attempts to avoid modern slavery occurrence.
“Modern slavery should not be a problem confined to the procurement function – along with other
23
aspects of sustainability it must be fully embedded and elevated to the boardroom level”(Stevenson
& Cole, 2018, p. 94). And even in the public sector, Rogerson, Crane, Soundararajan, Grosvold
and Cho (2020, p. 19) argue that “such little consideration is given to Procurement at Board level
that purchasing departments are free to view themselves as not in competition with one another”.
2.2.3. Collaboration and contract duration
Contract duration is one indicator of time (Ateş, Wynstra and van Raaij, 2015) and strength
(Ravindran, Susarla, Mani and Gurbaxani, 2015) in buyer-supplier relationship. Short-term
contracts are usually associated with price reduction strategies, lower commitment in value-adding
activities and flexibility, in the other hand, long-term contracts are mostly associated with
expectation of continuity and stability (Ateş et al., 2015). Long-term oriented relationship is an
influential antecedent to suppliers’ performance, even though contract duration alone is not a
sufficient condition of suppliers’ compliance with codes of conduct, suppliers with long-term
contracts are more likely to comply (Jiang, 2009).
Engaging in supplier development strategies is a way for buyers to improve societal
performance of its suppliers, leading to sustainability (Benstead et al., 2018; Hajmohammad &
Vachon, 2016; Yawar & Seuring, 2018). An imperative to make possible the strategies adopted by
organizations such as engaging in supplier development strategies, communication and compliance
strategies (Yawar & Seuring, 2017, 2018) is long-term oriented (Beske & Seuring, 2014) and
collaborative (Benstead et al., 2018) buyer-supplier relationships. As well as collaboration between
traditional and non-traditional actors of a supply chain, such as suppliers, competitors, trade bodies,
NGOs and industry unions (Benstead et al., 2018; Hahn & Gold, 2014; Huq et al., 2016; Stevenson
& Cole, 2018).
2.2.4. Complexity and distance
Highly complex and fragmented supply chains hamper the traceability of working
conditions (Benstead et al., 2018; Gold et al., 2015). Also, lower-tier suppliers are more passive in
addressing labor issues as they perceive lower risks of being penalized (Villena & Gioia, 2018).
Furthermore, “slavery is not measurable ex post because commodity-type products made from
slave [labor] cannot be identified once they reach the supply chain’s next tier” (Gold et al., 2015,
p. 491). Labor intermediaries and third party contract workers also contribute to increase
24
complexity, and thus to unfree labor (Barrientos, 2008, 2013). The use of third party contract
workers are the “Achilles Heel” of corporate codes (Barrientos, 2008).
“A long geographical distance between the point of material extraction or pre-fabrication
and the point of use or consumption generally makes it harder for businesses to identify slavery in
their supply chains” (Gold et al., 2015, p. 491). Crane (2013) discusses that a greater likelihood of
modern slavery adoption is linked with a conducive geographic context which includes physical
distance, and also psychological and political distance of workers. The physical distance is usually
analyzed in the context of global value chains and global outsourcing (Barrientos, 2008; Gereffi,
1994). While psychological and political distance are not limited to distant producers.
Chesney, Evans, Gold and Trautrims (2019) explores the Spanish agricultural sector, where
much of Europe’s vegetables are grown, as a case of labor exploitation. The authors found that
“exploitation flourishes in communities of like-minded companies that do not care about
mainstream norms” and “regarding isolation and connectedness of employers, cluster effects and
intense inter-employer communication are particularly effective drivers of underpayment if the
cluster is homogenous in terms of wage level and if it is isolated from law-abiding employers”
(Chesney et al., 2019, p. 696).
Not only physically distant supply chains are vulnerable to modern slavery occurrence, but
also domestic supply chains. Global value chain literature has placed the developed countries in
the position to advocate and adress the modern slavery issue on developing countries with a
perspective that the problem just occurs far from the developed world, while disregarding that
modern slavery occurs in supply chains both in developing and developed countries, and also
domestically. (Crane et al., 2019). This literature “has tended to locate the solution to the problem
of forced labor in supply chains in public and private governance initiatives to address forced labor
in the developing world, with an emphasis on public ‘disclosure’ legislation and corporate social
responsibility in developed countries” (Crane et al., 2019, pp. 100, 101). That understanding of the
problem has had great influence on recent policymaking, such as the passing of the UK Modern
Slavery Act, demanding public diclousure from british companies on how they are taclking modern
slavery in theirs supply chains.
2.2.5. Legislation
25
Supposedly, stakeholders are empowered when companies provide supply chain
transparency (Doorey, 2011), and thus have a watchdog role (Gold & Heikkurinen, 2018)
monitoring and pressuring business leaders to improve corporate behavior (Doorey, 2011). Several
countries have started to address modern slavery through legislations (e.g. Brazilian multi-
stakeholder initiative “National Pact for the Eradication of Slave Labour”, California in the USA
and UK requiring reports on efforts to abolish slavery with the “California Transparency in Supply
Chain Act” and “Modern Slavery Act” consecutively) (Gold et al., 2015). Those new legislations
tackling modern slavery occurrence in supply chains through transparency have opened a stream
of research on the efficacy, compliance and impacts of such legislations (e. g. Benstead et al., 2018;
Birkey et al., 2018; Flynn, 2020; Stevenson & Cole, 2018).
Most of the research to date on legal attempts to promote supply chain transparency has the
UK’s Modern Slavery Act (2015) as subject (Benstead et al., 2018; Flynn, 2020; Flynn & Walker,
2020; LeBaron & Rühmkorf, 2019; Rogerson et al., 2020; Stevenson & Cole, 2018), but other
studies also have focused on The California Transparency in Supply Chains Act (2010) (Birkey et
al., 2018; Lee, Lee and Ma, 2018) and Australia’s Modern Slavery Act (2018) (Christ, Rao and
Burritt, 2019). LeBaron et al. (2019) examine the regulatory process of passing the UK’s Modern
Slavery Act. The authors found, as expected, business opposition regarding new legislation.
In relation to compliance with disclosure legislation, Flynn (2020) found that prior social
responsibility commitment, firm size, industry, network involvement and headquarter base in UK
are significantly determinants of corporate compliance, while profitability, media exposure and
shareholder concentration are non-significant. Network involvement is discussed in more detail as
horizontal collaboration by Benstead et al. (2018).
Although firms have made changes in response to new legislations as creating new key
performance indicators, adopting new policies, strengthening contract terms and establishing
working groups (Flynn & Walker, 2020). Statements were found to be substantially heterogenic
(Stevenson & Cole, 2018), “merely symbolic” (Monciardini, Bernaz and Andhov, 2019), and
“disclosure response appeared to be more symbolic than substantive in nature” (Birkey et al., 2018,
p. 827), however, high-supply chain risk companies had significantly higher disclosure
extensiveness (Birkey et al., 2018) and more proactively made necessary changes for compliance
(Flynn & Walker, 2020).
26
Howsoever, LeBaron and Rühmkorf (2017) argue that voluntary reporting, which is the
case for the UK Modern Slavery Act, have impair the effectiveness of governance initiatives, while
criminal corporate liability legislation, the case for UK Bribery Act, appears more effective in
promote changes to corporate strategy. And even when studying the public sector, Rogerson et al.
(2020) argue that “modern slavery statements are persistently poor on detail, lack variation and
have led to little meaningful action to tackle modern slavery”.
2.2.6. Critiques
Focal companies have brand reputation, likelihood of legal action and further investments
ate stake when pushed towards taking responsibility for their supply chains (Gold & Heikkurinen,
2018). “[Managers] need to trade off the potential reputation and competitive gains from being
more transparent than the competition, against the reputational risk should their statement be
falsified or against the potential loss of competitive advantage from information leakage” and
“should also consider what their statements reveal to upstream suppliers and sub-suppliers
(Stevenson & Cole, 2018, p. 94). Also, companies find that collecting and disclosing supply chain
information is costly and might not provide clear benefits (Sodhi & Tang, 2019).
“[T]ransparency is losing its innocence: more transparency is no longer always the best for
citizen-consumer empowerment and for the sustainability of value chains. But value chain secrecy
is not an attractive alternative” (Mol, 2015, p. 154). Gold and Heikkinen (2018) criticize the
romantic notion of transparency. The authors term “Transparency fallacy” as “[…] the erroneous
belief that stakeholder claims for transparency will lead to responsible behavior” (Gold &
Heikkurinen, 2018, p. 318). According to the authors, the fallacy happens because it ignores the
opacity in organizations and the conditions of international supply chains, such as complexity,
distance, and resistance. Acknowledging that, stakeholders and corporate managers should focus
on changing those conditions.
It is argued that requirements to public disclosure led to corporate responsibility narratives
rather than responsible behavior (Christ et al., 2019; Gold & Heikkurinen, 2018). It is also
questioned if supply chain transparency lead to action, and if so, does not imply effective corporate
actions in tackling modern slavery (Monciardini et al., 2019). Gold and Heikkurinen (2018)
question the rationale of transparency. The authors specifically question what are the outcomes of
stakeholders claims for transparency, “[warn] against [over-emphasizing] the watchdog role of
27
stakeholders intended to make companies behave more responsibly and sustainably, and instead
[call] for greater emphasis on the influence of the ethics of the [organization] and the supply chain
conditions that shape corporate [behavior]” (Gold & Heikkurinen, 2018, p. 329).
Egels-Zandén et al. (2015) analyzed how a company attempted to adopt supply chain
transparency and the outcomes of such attempt. Authors found that managers face three trade-offs
(i.e., threat vs. collaboration, standardization vs. differentiation, and means vs. ends) when
attempting to implement it. From those trade-offs, managers have two approaches to follow:
compliance or cooperation. When following compliance, supply chain transparency is employed
in a similar way as on codes of conduct. This approach is easily communicated and increase firm’s
legitimacy, but the downside is that it requires to jeopardize relationship with suppliers that resist
transparency attempts. When following cooperation, managers seek to understand its supplier
network context, seeing supply chain transparency as a mean to improve sustainability conditions.
While cooperation minimizes conflicts in the supply network, it makes external transparency
difficult and may lead to perceived greenwashing.
2.3. Hypothesis development
Modern slavery across supply chains is a problem that calls for transparency (New, 2015).
Following Doorey (2011) argument, when engaging in supply chain transparency, managers will
be more aware of the practices under its supply chains. Legislations demanding supply chain
transparency follows the argument that it has the power to avoid modern slavery occurrence. Gold
and Heikkurinen acknowledge the opacity present in many supply chains and thus, the inability of
many firms to provide supply chain transparency. “[…] transparency could be fostered by reducing
the complexity and distance of the economic [organization] to a comprehensible state […]” (Gold
& Heikkurinen, 2018, p. 329). Complexity and distance can hide what is going on upstream in the
SC. However, the decision to seek transparency is strategic (Egels-Zandén et al., 2015), and not a
decision that buyers have the scope to make. While traceability is a core enabler of sustainable
supply chain management and can be incorporated as a business activity (Garcia-Torres, Albareda,
Rey-Garcia and Seuring, 2019) by purchasing departments.
While Croson, Schultz, Siemsen and Yeo (2013, p. 1) acknowledge that “[m]anagers may
have the best of intentions, but are often unable to move their organization in the right direction”,
and procurement function has being given little consideration at board level (Stevenson & Cole,
28
2018). Thomas, Darby, Dobrzykowski and van Hoek (2020, p. 1) found that buyers prefer to select
suppliers with desirable levels of employee welfare, pricing and philanthropy, and states that
“Social sustainability has emerged as a key determinant in supplier selection.” Therefore, the first
hypothesis is:
H1: Traceability, of both finished product and fabric, will be the most important attributes among
cost, supplier location, and supplier relationship length.
Supplier sustainability risk is the potential negative aftermath on a buyer of its suppliers
misconducts (Hajmohammad & Vachon, 2016). What Roehrich, Grosvold and Hoejmose (2014)
call reputational risk. In the context of this research, the occurrence of modern slavery upstream in
the supply chain is the supplier sustainability risk faced by the focal firm. It becomes a reputational
damage once stakeholders are aware and decide to act against. Thereby, when managers are aware
that they face a reputational risk, they may choose suppliers with more caution and valuing more
attributes related to traceability, safety, and control. Thus, the second hypothesis is proposed:
H2: Exposure to modern slavery occurrence in fashion retailers will alter buyers’ ranking
preference of suppliers’ attributes compared to the group of buyers who did not were exposed to
the issue.
3. METHOD
To assess the research question and test for the hypotheses developed in section 2.3, a
controlled experiment was employed using two approaches: scenario-based role-playing and
discrete choice. Priming is used as a manipulation of modern slavery occurrence in fashion supply
chains. For the investigation of buyers’ preferences in supplier selection, a discrete choice
experiment of supplier selection was employed. Participants were asked to choose their preferred
supplier in eleven choice sets of two suppliers varying attributes levels in a discrete choice exercise.
3.1. Experimental vignette methodology
Vignette-based experiments are suitable for studies in the areas of operation and supply
chain management that seek to understand judgments, preferences and why a decision is made
29
(Rungtusanatham, Wallin and Eckerd, 2011). Vignettes are brief descriptions of a situation with
precise references of what is expected to be analyzed in the respondents' decision-making process
(Alexander & Becker, 1978). This research strategy was chosen for this study because it makes
possible to analyze the effect of different factors on human behavior, systematically varying the
manipulations, in addition to making the situation of decision-making more real and standardizing
the stimuli given to respondents (Alexander & Becker, 1978).
Due to its illegality, modern slavery occurrence in supply chains requires to consider
bounded economic rationality in explaining its adoption (Crane, 2013). Experiments offer
appropriate means of answering behavioral queries, achieving understand of deviations from
behaviors and studying research questions that consider unethical behaviors of individuals (Eckerd
& Bendoly, 2011).
For scenario-based experiments, vignettes must be properly designed and validated
(Rungtusanatham et al., 2011). To do so, the three steps suggested by Rungtusanatham et al. (2011)
for the design of vignettes were followed.
The first stage consists of pre-design, where the researcher gets familiarized with the
context of the study. For this stage, interviews with specialists were conducted, more details on
interviews learnings are presented in the section “Interviews with specialists”. The design stage is
the second step. Based on the information collected in the interviews with specialists, and the
factors of interest in this research, the scenarios of the vignettes were written in different versions
so that it is possible to test the hypotheses. Post-design is the vignette validation stage. This last
step is extremely important to ensure the vignette as it will be presented is clear, realistic, complete
and effective (Rungtusanatham et al., 2011). In the pilot phase, manipulation checks, realism check,
and attention checks were conducted to ensure reliability to the final experiment, results from this
phase are described in sections 4.2 Reliability and 4.3 Manipulation checks.
3.2. Manipulation
A news snippet describing 38 retailers involved with modern slavery in its supply chains
was the priming chosen as a manipulation to test the first hypothesis of buyers ranking preference
of suppliers’ attributes. Control group read a random news snippet related to astronomic events.
Demand effects are related to “changes in behavior by experimental subjects due to cues
about what constitutes appropriate behavior (behavior ‘demanded’ from them)” (Zizzo, 2010, p.
30
75). As demand effects is one of criticisms against in experiments, and are of greater concern when
research question is related to sensitive topic (Eckerd, DuHadway, Bendoly, Carter and Kaufmann,
2020), this experiment was designed as between-subjects and the control group received a
treatment unrelated to the context of the study in an attempt to minimize those effects (Eckerd et
al., 2020; Lonati, Quiroga, Zehnder and Antonakis , 2018). Respondents were randomly assigned
to manipulation or control group.
Although a very popular treatment mechanism in fields such as marketing, the use of
priming in operations management field is extremely rare, with the work of Villa and Castañeda
(2020) being one of the unique examples. The authors used an episodic priming task to manipulate
power in their laboratory experiment. This research adopts priming as a mechanism to sensitize
participants to modern slavery occurrence in fashion supply chains. Our expectation is that being
exposed directly to the issue, participants’ conscience towards modern slavery would be reinforced,
therefore choosing suppliers with higher levels of traceability, trust, and control.
3.3. Discrete choice experiment
To test the hypotheses related to suppliers’ attributes importance for buyers in supplier
selection, a task of supplier selection was simulated throughout an unlabeled, orthogonal, and
balanced discrete choice experiment.
Discrete choice models are used to describe decision-makers’ preferences among
alternatives (Train, 2002). Choice modelling is developed from random utility theory, which
assumes that “an individual has an unknown ‘true’ utility or value that consists of a mean value that
can be inferred from a series of observations of choice, and random error” (Louviere, 1984, p. 84). A
set of alternatives is called “choice set” and must be mutually exclusive, exhaustive and finite
(Train, 2002).
Each choice set contains two alternatives, each alternative has its attributes and each
attribute vary in its levels (Hensher, Rose and Greene, 2015). For this research, alternatives are
potential suppliers, however, the list of potential attributes and attributes levels are extensive
(Dickson, 1966). To refine stimuli, Hensher et al. (2015) suggets analysts to spend a considerable
level of effort in deriving alternatives, attributes and attributes levels.
3.3.1. Interviews with specialists
31
Following recommendations of Hensher et al. (2015) and Rungtusanatham et al. (2011),
unstructured interviews with specialists were conducted. This step was also keen to give voice to
managers and other stakeholders involved in supplier selection decision making process (Marques,
Erthal, Schott and Morais, 2021). The three main objectives in conducting interviews were to 1.
understand how supplier selection occurs in textile retailers in Brazil, 2. investigate what are the
main attributes of suppliers evaluated by buyers, and 3. explore if and how transparency and
modern slavery impact supplier selection.
Ten interviews were conducted, and interview length ranged from 45 to 90 minutes. Due to
the exploratory nature of the interviews and the research focus on modern slavery occurrence,
participants were not restricted to purchasing managers, coordinators, and buyers, but sustainability
and governance specialists, and also, auditors were part of the sample.
Learnings from interviews with buyers indicates that supplier selection occurs in two main
phases. In the pre-selection stage, suppliers were categorized as the potential type of products that
they were able to manufacture and price range. Also in pre-selection stage, due diligence is
performed to guarantee that a potential supplier can meet regulatory demands and requirements
from code of conduct. This finding is in conformity with Cole and Aitken (2019, p. 1197)
proposition: “[Socially responsible] purchasers require evidence of knowledge development
capabilities of social sustainability practices of suppliers before transactional exchange.”
Selection stage happens as a quotation, suppliers categorized as potential source of a type
of product are requested to present a pilot of the product and a price. A specific question was made
about price range for the product selected to be in the vignette, a basic t-shirt of acceptable quality
for a major retailer, but responses varied, and no conclusion was reached in this stage. During pilot
tests some of the interviewees were asked to evaluate the research questionnaire and provide
feedbacks. Then, price levels were set as R$ 6,00 and R$ 8,00. The lowest price was said to be of
suspect to malpractices, while the most expensive price level is still inexpensive but possible to
reach without compromising responsible practices.
Location and relationship length were mentioned frequently, and both are related to several
other concerns. Location can be related to control of practices, quality, expertise in some product
type, delivery, and inspection capacity. Location is also frequently related to cost, but an interesting
learn is that previously Asian products were less expensive but due to unfavorable exchange rates
for imports and rise in transportation costs, local production can be the least expensive option.
32
Respondents reported that a longer relationship with suppliers is preferable because it favors
workflow and development, increases trust, and helps maintain a lean and recurrent supply base.
But newer suppliers can be more competitive in terms of price and flexibility.
Transparency discourse is not so prominent in Brazil. When asked about transparency,
responses were differed from not being important for some brands because its costumers do not
demand, to something that is important, should be implemented in the future, but it is not a concern
in the present. However, the importance of the local certification emerged as an important topic in
relation to prevent modern slavery and improve overall social sustainability in supply chains
emerged in the interviews, all interviewees mentioned it. That’s why two questions were asked
about The Brazilian Association of Textile Retail [ABVTEX], the most adopted certification which
covers around 23% of clothing retail in Brazil. Questions were related to working experience in a
fashion retailer member of the association and participants’ perception of the certification as an
indicative of sustainable practices among supply chain.
3.3.2. Choice set design
Choice set design involves a series of considerations. Attributes and its levels were defined
combining the learnings of the interviews with research objectives. Unlabeled alternatives were
chosen to avoid bias as respondents could interpret a label as an attribute and assume that a name
could convey an unexpected meaning (Hensher et al., 2015).
Additional considerations are the definition of alternatives profiles and sets of comparison
between profiles. For the number of attributes and levels employed in the discrete choice task, there
are 2x2x2x3x3 = 72 possible combinations. Sawtooth platform was employed for data collection
and some of the analysis. The platform was used to manage all possible profiles, generating eleven
balanced and orthogonal choice sets for each respondent. This functionality provides more trade-
off tests as each participant received different choice sets and thus, research was able to collect
more choice data.
Balance level, as well as the attributes and levels selected for the discrete choice experiment
are presented in table 1. The discrete choice experiment task is comprised by eleven choice sets of
two alternatives each, and sample size is of 42 in manipulation group and 40 in control group, the
sum of number of appearances is 924 and 880 for each group respectively.
33
Table 1 – Level of balance
Manipulation group Control group
Attributes Levels
# of
appereances %
# of
appereances %
Finished product cost
R$8,00 462 50% 442 50%
R$6,00 462 50% 438 50%
Supplier location
Domestic outsourcing (Brazil) 462 50% 440 50%
Outsourcing in Asia 462 50% 440 50%
Supplier relationship length
8 years 462 50% 440 50%
New supplier 462 50% 440 50%
Finished product traceability
The supplier presents invoices and
audits its subcontractors 306 33% 294 33%
The supplier presents invoices when
requested 309 33% 293 33%
The supplier does not share the
information 309 33% 293 33%
Fabric traceability
Buyer determines the fabric supplier 312 34% 289 33%
The supplier presents invoices when
requested 305 33% 293 33%
The supplier does not share the
information 307 33% 298 34%
Source: Produced by the authors
3.4. Dependent variable
Individuals have underlying influences that shapes its choice behavior. The focus of discrete
choice analysis is to reveal those influences, termed utilities. The utility function of decision maker
n in choice set s choosing alternative j is presented in equation 2. 𝑈𝑛𝑠𝑗 can be separated into two
components, the modeled component 𝑉𝑛𝑠𝑗 and the residual error 휀𝑛𝑠𝑗. (Hensher et al., 2015)
𝑈𝑛𝑠𝑗 = 𝑉𝑛𝑠𝑗 + 휀𝑛𝑠𝑗 (2)
34
The observed component of utility, 𝑉𝑛𝑠𝑗, in a discrete choice experiment is the alternative
selected, hence, the dependent variable. The model adopted for this research is demonstrated in
equation 3. Dummy coding was employed for the linear model of conditional logistic regression.
The level of each attribute associated with higher risk of modern slavery occurrence was selected
to assume value 0 and was used as reference level. Thus, a positive coefficient means the most
secure option is more useful than the reference level.
3.5. Population and sample
The fashion industry is the object of this study because it’s a simple manufacture industry
and so, riskier for modern slavery occurrence (Crane, 2013; Gold et al., 2015). It has had several
claims of the issue in brands and retailers across the globe (BBC, 2020; The Guardian, 2020).
Outsourcing is common practice for textile retailers for decades (Gereffi, 1994), thus adequate for
simulation of supplier selection task.
Due to the research focus on one particular industry and a specific task, and also because
experimental design was developed with information gathered in Brazil, population of interest for
this research is limited to Brazilian working professionals experienced in fashion industry and
familiarized with supplier selection. To limit valid responses, screening questions were asked about
working experiences.
To determine the sample needed to answer the research questions, it is necessary to have a
sufficient statistical power in order to detect differences in participants’ preferences (de Bekker-
Grob, Donkers, Jonker and Stolk, 2015). Statistical power is the probability of rejecting the null
hypotheses when it is false. For the model proposed, the minimum sample size (n*) is calculated
as per Cohen & Cohen (2014, p. 449), equation 1:
𝑛 ∗ =
𝐿
𝑓2 (𝑐 − 1)+ 𝑔 (1)
Considering: 1. a significance level of α = 0.01, 2. β < 0.01, 3. three within-subjects
manipulations of two levels each and two within-subjects manipulations of three levels each, thus
𝑉 = 𝛼𝑙. 𝑇𝑟𝑎𝑐𝑒𝑎𝑏𝑖𝑙𝑖𝑡𝑦_𝑝𝑟𝑜𝑑𝑢𝑐𝑡𝑙 + 𝛼𝑚. 𝑇𝑟𝑎𝑐𝑒𝑎𝑏𝑖𝑙𝑖𝑡𝑦_𝑝𝑟𝑜𝑑𝑢𝑐𝑡𝑚
+ 𝛽𝑙. 𝑇𝑟𝑎𝑐𝑒𝑎𝑏𝑖𝑙𝑖𝑡𝑦_𝑓𝑎𝑏𝑟𝑖𝑐𝑙 + 𝛽𝑚. 𝑇𝑟𝑎𝑐𝑒𝑎𝑏𝑖𝑙𝑖𝑡𝑦_𝑓𝑎𝑏𝑟𝑖𝑐𝑚 + 𝛾𝑙. 𝐶𝑜𝑠𝑡𝑙
+ 𝛿𝑙. 𝐿𝑜𝑐𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛𝑙 + 𝜃𝑙 . 𝑅𝑒𝑙𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛𝑠ℎ𝑖𝑝𝑙
(3)
35
c = 2332, 4. one between-subjects manipulation of two levels each, g = 21, and 5. an expected
“medium” effect size in population, therefore, f2 = 0.03. The minimum sample sized required for
this research is of 38 respondents.
However, vignette-based experiments in supply chain management field usually seek for 30
respondents per experimental condition in between-subjects manipulation. For conservative
reasons, the target sample size for this research is of 21 x 30, therefore 60 valid responses.
3.6. Data collection
Data collection was conducted from June to July 2021 through online questionnaires.
Initially, we planned to recruit the participants by referral of participants from the phase interviews
with specialists and also referral of researcher’s colleagues. However, sample size target was not
reached by this strategy. The second strategy adopted was contact with working professionals
through cold messaging on LinkedIn. In total, 300 messages were sent.
Combining both strategies, a total of 180 responses were collected. Removing responses
from participants without the desirable working experience and non-reliable answers final sample
contained 82 valid responses. Two platforms were employed for data collection, randomization
was operationalized using Qualtrics and then, respondents were forwarded to Sawtooth for the
discrete choice experiment.
4. RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONS
4.1. Sample description
Total sample is composed of 82 valid respondents. Respondents were randomly assigned
to one of the two manipulation news. Final sample is composed of 42 responses in manipulation
group and 40 in control group.
Regarding gender, 81% are female, 18% are male and 1% are non-binary. 71% of the
respondents are older than 30 years and 94% have, at least, completed higher education, of those,
61% have graduate studies. Almost 50% of the sample have over 10 years of working experience.
Gender, age, and educational level are presented in table 2, and working experience and position
of participants are presented in table 3. When respondent answered “other” for their position, they
were requested to provide a written answer, those responses are consolidated in the table other.
36
Table 2 – Sample description
Gender # % Age # % Educational level # %
Female 66 80.5% 25 or less 7 8.5% Incomplete higher education 5 6.1%
Male 15 18.3% 26 - 30 17 20.7% Higher education 27 32.9%
Non-binary 1 1.2% 31 - 35 30 36.6% Graduate studies: Specialization 40 48.8%
Total 82 100.0% 36 - 40 13 15.9% Graduate studies: Masters 9 11.0%
41 - 45 10 12.2% Graduate studies: PhD 1 1.2%
46 - 50 2 2.4% Total 82 100.0%
Above 50 3 3.7%
Total 82 100.0%
Source: Produced by the authors.
Table 3 – Sample working experience
Working experience # % Position # %
5 years or less 16 19.5% Analyst 24 29.3%
6 - 10 years 26 31.7% Manager 21 25.6%
11 - 15 years 14 17.1% Coordinator 14 17.1%
16 - 20 years 16 19.5% Director 4 4.9%
21 - 25 years 6 7.3% Other 19 23.2%
More than 25 years 4 4.9% Total 82 100.0%
Total 82 100.0%
Other #
Assistant 6
Specialist 2
Buyer 8
Supervisor 1
Owner 2
Total 19
Source: Produced by the authors.
4.2. Reliability
To ensure reliability to the present study, three measures were taken. A realism check, an
attention test and two screening questions, a response was considered valid when met all criteria.
Participants rated the supplier selection task high on realism, measured via 5-point scale (M =
37
4.049, SD = 0.887). The screening questions were related to familiarity with procurement tasks and
with the textile sector, only responses of participants who declared experience with supplier
selection and experience in the fashion industry were consider valid responses. Also, three
questions were asked to test participants’ attention to the scenario, valid responses were the ones
which answered all three questions correctly.
4.3. Manipulation checks
To test the effectiveness of the manipulation, respondents were asked three manipulation
check questions. The items presented in table 4 were translated to English by the authors, original
version of the complete questionnaire, in Portuguese, is available in the appendix A. Manipulation
checks means differences were compared with ANOVA. All samples could differentiate
manipulations, thus primming of modern slavery occurrence in fashion supply chains was effective.
Table 4 – Descriptive results for manipulation checks
Item Group n Mean SD
The news I saw at the beginning of the questionnaire alerted me to the
occurrence of modern slavery in fashion.
Manipulation 42 4.238 1.055
Control 40 2.425 1.217
The news I saw made me think about working conditions in the supply
chain.
Manipulation 42 4.333 0.902
Control 40 2.650 1.350
The news snippet I read was related to ethics in the fashion market.
Manipulation 42 4.404 0.798
Control 40 2.400 1.277
Source: Produced by the authors
Table 5 – ANOVA of manipulation checks
Item SSQ df MSQ F Sig.
The news I saw at the beginning of the questionnaire
alerted me to the occurrence of modern slavery in
fashion.
Effect 67.35 1 67.35 52.110 0.000
Residuals 103.39 80 1.29
The news I saw made me think about working conditions
in the supply chain. Effect 58.05 1 58.05 44.470 0.000
Residuals 104.43 80 1.31 The news snippet I read was related to ethics in the
fashion market. Effect 82.34 1 82.34 73.420 0.000
Residuals 89.72 80 1.12
Source: Produced by the authors
38
4.4. Discrete choice analysis
Conditional logit model was employed to test for hypotheses 1 and 2. Dependent variables
for a discrete choice experiment are the alternatives selected, attributes levels are the independent
variables. The interest of this study is to estimate the utilities attributes to each of the selection
criteria: Finished product traceability (tfp), Fabric traceability (tf), Finished product cost (cost),
Supplier location (loc), Supplier relationship length (leng). Only main effects interactions of
attributes were part of the scope for this study, also individual characteristics were not included in
the model.
Variables of the conditional logit model were dummy coded. Reference levels are the riskier
attribute level for modern slavery occurrence in supply chains, therefore a positive coefficient
means the most secure option are more useful for buyers than least secure option, coded as
reference level. For Finished product cost, reference level is the least expensive option, thus, a
negative coefficient means that most expensive option is less useful to choice-makers than refen
rence level. Description of variables, dummy codes, attributes, and attributes’ levels are presented
in table 5.
Table 6 – Attributes' levels codification
Attributes Variables Code Levels
Finished product cost cost 1 R$8,00
0 R$6,00
Supplier location loc 1 Domestic outsourcing (Brazil)
0 Outsourcing in Asia
supplier relationship
length leng 1 8 years
0 New supplier
tfp_l tfp_m
Finished product
traceability tfp_l 1 0
The supplier presents invoices and audits its
subcontractors
tfp_m 0 1 The supplier presents invoices when requested
0 0 The supplier does not share the information
tf_l tf_m
Fabric traceability tf_l 1 0 Buyer determines the fabric supplier
tf_m 0 1 The supplier presents invoices when requested
0 0 The supplier does not share the information Source: Produced by the authors
39
To avoid respondents interpreting one attribute as a “proxy” of other possible attributes that
were not included in the discrete choice exercise, the remainder most cited attributes from
interviews with specialists were mentioned in the vignette as constant. The constant attributes are
the following: Acceptable quality; Payment term of 120 days; Delivery time of 45 days (including
shipping); and High delivery reliability. It is also important to note that any pressure on cost
reduction was made in the vignette. All participants were told that average price for the finished
product in previous orders was R$7,00, including all costs, also transportation costs to firm’s
distribution center.
Table 6 presents two conditional logit regression, for manipulation and control group
performed in R package mlogit and table 7 contains attributes’ importance for both groups
calculated by Sawtooth. With those two tables it is possible to address the research question.
40
Table 7 – Discrete choice
Manipulation Control
(Intercept):2 0.138 -0.065
(0.132) (0.133)
tfp_l 2.884*** 2.385***
(0.269) (0.239)
tfp_m 1.920*** 1.808***
(0.214) (0.212)
tf_l 1.322*** 1.206***
(0.213) (0.204)
tf_m 1.252*** 1.020***
(0.213) (0.195)
cost -0.643*** -0.619***
(0.188) (0.182)
loc 0.420*** 0.862***
(0.134) (0.144)
leng 0.573*** 0.395***
(0.138) (0.132)
Observations 462 440
R2 0.42 0.394
Log Likelihood -185.433 -184.094
LR Test (df =
8) 269.049*** 239.734***
Note: *p<0.1; **p<0.05; ***p<0.01
Source: Produced by the authors
41
Table 8 – Attributes’ importance
Manipulation Control Difference
Finished product traceability 48.17% 43.59% 4.57%
Fabric traceability 21.85% 23.90% -2.05%
Supplier relationship length 10.73% 8.80% 1.93%
Supplier location 9.63% 14.93% -5.30%
Finished product cost 9.63% 8.79% 0.84%
Source: Produced by the authors
Main effects indicates that all five suppliers’ attributes have a significant effect on supplier
selection. Results reveals that the most important attributes in supplier selection task was
traceability of finished products, followed by traceability of fabric. Both traceability attributes,
combined, account for 70% of utility for manipulation group and 67% for control group. This finding
supports hypothesis 1 which is in concordance with Thomas et al.(2020) that social sustainability is a
key supplier criteria. And Goebel, Reuter, Pibernik, Sichtmann and Bals (2018) who studied
willingness to pay for sustainability attributes and found higher willingess to pay for social
sustainability dimention.
Over 72% of participants in the final sample could be considered middle-level managers,
thus results are also strengthening Ehrgott, Reimann, Kaufmann and Carter (2011, p. 99) finding that
“middle-level supply managers as internal stakeholders play a major driving role for firms’ socially
sustainable supplier selection”. The results based on a sample of middle-level managers also give rise
to the discussion of conflict of interest. While decisions regarding transparency, whether or not take
advantage of institutional voids, and engage in advocacy to laws enforcement regarding public
disclosure are higher level decisions, the day-to-day practices and decisions are made by middle-level
managers.
The third most useful attribute was different across manipulation groups, supporting
hypothesis 2. Supplier relationship length accounted for 10.7% of utility in supplier selection for
treatment group. And supplier location counted for 14.9% of utility for control group. It can be
inferred that this difference in supplier ranking order for manipulation groups was an effect of the
priming. Relationship length could be a perceived as a “proxy” of trustworthiness by participants that
received the priming of modern slavery occurrence in supply chains. While supplier location could be
perceived as a “proxy” of control.
42
Supplier location was the attribute with the biggest percentual difference in importance between
groups. This is an unexpected finding as modern slavery occurrence is commonly linked to distance
(Crane, 2013; Gold & Heikkurinen, 2018) and complexity (Benstead et al., 2018; Gold et al., 2015;
Gold & Heikkurinen, 2018) in supply chains. Kim et al. (2018) suggets future studies to explore
geographic aspects in ethical sourcing, focusing on the comparisons between country’s views of ethical
sourcing, and the finding from this research could add a suggestion for future studies of geographic
aspects to investigate managers’ sensemaking of a supplier location as a selection criteria. However,
learnings from interviews with specialists suggests that location results could also be interpreted as cost
reduction due to actual exchange rates, unfavorable for imports.
Another unexpected finding was cost as the least important attribute for both manipulation
groups, with the smaller percentual difference in importance. It is specially surprising in control group.
Some assumptions could be made for the reason why cost was the least important attribute. Table 8
provides utilities of attribute levels. Cheapest option was the preferred among both groups, perhaps
respondents have not perceived the cheapest as the riskier for modern slavery occurrence. As all the
vignette, levels for finished product cost were chose based on specialists’ opinion. Maybe the difference
was too impactful for the respondents, it was an increase of 33% on cost. As hypothetical task was for
10.000 units, thus a final difference of R$20.000,00. Another possible reason is that, although
respondents rated the questionnaire task as realistic, no budget constrain was included in the vignette,
thus respondents had no incentive to pay closer attention to cost. This finding contradicts researches
that impose financial restrictions to its model and found economic pillar of sustainability to be the most
important in supplier selection (Xiao, Wilhelm, van der Vaart and van Donk, 2019).
43
Table 9 – Attribute levels utilities
Manipulation Control
Attribute Level Utility SError Utility SError
Finished product
cost R$8,00 -23.17 3.61 -18.20 4.44
R$6,00 23.17 3.61 18.20 4.44
Supplier location Domestic outsourcing (Brazil) 17.00 4.75 36.99 4.49
Outsourcing in Asia -17.00 4.75 -36.99 4.49
Supplier
relationship
length
8 years 22.68 3.43 18.04 2.92
New supplier -22.68 3.43 -18.04 2.92
Finished product
traceability The supplier presents invoices
and audits its subcontractors 105.65 4.42 92.36 5.97
The supplier presents invoices
when requested 27.99 5.00 30.31 5.96
The supplier does not share the
information -133.64 5.09 -122.67 6.39
Fabric
traceability
Buyer determines the fabric
supplier 37.44 3.86 38.57 5.30
The supplier presents invoices
when requested 26.54 3.69 26.05 5.54
The supplier does not share the
information -63.99 4.97 -64.62 5.98
Source: Produced by the authors
44
Figure 1 - Finished product traceability - Manipulation group
Source: Produced by the authors
Figure 2 - Finished product traceability - Control group
Source: Produced by the authors
The supplier presents
invoices and audits its
subcontractors
The supplier presents
invoices when requested
The supplier does not
share the information
-150,00 -100,00 -50,00 0,00 50,00 100,00 150,00
Finished product traceability (Manipulation)
The supplier presents
invoices and audits its
subcontractors
The supplier presents
invoices when requested
The supplier does not
share the information
-150,00 -100,00 -50,00 0,00 50,00 100,00 150,00
Finished product traceability (control)
45
Figure 3 - Fabric traceability - Manipulation group
Source: Produced by the authors
Figure 4 - Fabric traceability - Control group
Source: Produced by the authors
Table 8 and Figures 1, 2, 3, and 4 shows that for both manipulation groups, and for both
traceability attributes, the riskier attribute level, not sharing information with buyers, was the driver
of most nonchoices. That is, respondents were averse to not have information disclosure. This
findings are in line with recent literature on socially responsible purchasing (Cole & Aitken, 2019)
and ethical sourcing (Kim & Chae, 2021). Cole & Aitken (2019, p. 1197) proposes that “[socially
Buyer determines the
fabric supplier
The supplier presents
invoices when requested
The supplier does not
share the information
-80,00 -60,00 -40,00 -20,00 0,00 20,00 40,00 60,00
Fabric traceability (Manipulation)
Buyer determines the
fabric supplier
The supplier presents
invoices when requested
The supplier does not
share the information
-80,00 -60,00 -40,00 -20,00 0,00 20,00 40,00 60,00
Fabric traceability (control)
46
responsible] purchasers require evidence of knowledge development capabilities of social
sustainability practices of suppliers before transactional exchange.” And ethical sourcing initiative-
based supplier selection implies choosing only suppliers in accordance with ethical and social
criteria, “when potential suppliers are unable to fulfill the requirements of stakeholders in respect
to such criteria, they might be excluded from the selection process” (Kim & Chae, 2021, p. 2).
However, due to method constrains and information burden, only three levels of traceability
were chosen, but results of strong aversion to no information might hinder the effect of having the
higher or the middle level of traceability. Having an invoice from suppliers does not guarantee
traceability, but safeguard for most of local regulatory requirements in Brazil. This labor market
void might undermine working conditions at suppliers, and thus transparency (Marques et al.,
2021).
From interviews with specialists, ABVTEX certification appear to have a significative
relevance on socially responsible supply chain practices, promoting labor standards through a
certification to suppliers. Almost one fourth of Brazilian textile production is manufactured by a
retailer associated with ABVTEX. One of the commitments to join the association is to only
outsource production to a certified supplier. Due to its seemingly importance to Brazilian textile
supply chain, two questions were asked related to working experience in a retailer associated with
ABVTEX and participants’ perception of the certification as a sign of sustainable practices. Both
answers were dummy coded, reference levels were having working experience in a retailer
associated with ABVTEX and agreement that certifications such as ABVTEX are signs of
sustainability, respectively, and joined the research model as individual characteristics. Results
from the conditional logistic regression including ABVTEX items as individuals’ attributes is
presented in table 9. None of the attributes related to the association were statistically significant.
47
Table 10 – ABVTEX conditional logistic regression
Manipulation Control
(Intercept):2 -0.106 0.145
(0.245) (0.262)
tfp_l 2.903*** 2.404***
(0.271) (0.241)
tfp_m 1.912*** 1.828***
(0.215) (0.214)
tf_l 1.333*** 1.209***
(0.214) (0.205)
tf_m 1.253*** 1.030***
(0.214) (0.196)
cost -0.645*** -0.627***
(0.189) (0.182)
loc 0.431*** 0.867***
(0.135) (0.145)
leng 0.580*** 0.396***
(0.139) (0.133)
abvtex_exp 0.400 -0.284
(0.284) (0.296)
abvtex_sust -0.050 -0.015
(0.35) (0.341)
Observations 462 440
R2 0.424 0.396
Log Likelihood -184.281 -183.634
LR Test (df =
8) 271.351*** 240.654***
Note: *p<0.1; **p<0.05; ***p<0.01
Source: Produced by the authors
48
5. CONCLUSIONS
To understand the relative importance of supplier criterion when choosing supplier given
the potential presence of modern slavery, a controlled scenario-based discrete choice experiment
was employed. Sample was limited to working professionals with experience in both the industry
and supplier selection task. Results from conditional logistic regression supports that all attributes
(i.e., finished product traceability, fabric traceability, supplier location, relationship length and
cost) impact supplier selection. But traceability of finished product and fabric were the two most
important, accounting respectively for 48% and 22% in manipulation group and 44% and 24% in
control group. This finding supports hypothesis 1.
Another interesting finding from this research is buyers’ aversion to lack of traceability.
Traceability of both finished product and fabric were indeed the most important attributes. But
analyzing utilities in the attribute levels, it is possible to observe that not having information from
suppliers is less useful for buyers. Meaning that when choosing a supplier, the first criteria for
exclusion would be nondisclosure.
Attributes’ importance ranking order varied between manipulation groups, therefore
supporting hypothesis 2. Finished product traceability importance for the group who received
priming of modern slavery occurrence was of almost 50%, followed by fabric traceability,
relationship length, supplier location and finished product cost. While for control group, ranking
order was Finished product traceability, fabric traceability, supplier location relationship length,
and finished product cost. This finding supports the importance of disclosure when modern slavery
is found in a supply chain as an alert to the industry. Furthermore, supports the importance of
legislations that demand transparency and increase awareness of the issue to all stakeholders.
5.1. Limitations and future research
It is important to acknowledge limitations to generalizability. Experimental designs
compromise external validity in favor of internal validity. Results are limited to Brazilian textile
context, sample, and vignette-description. Future research could extend supplier criteria, and
industry context, as well as replicate the experiment in other countries, and also test for interactions
between attributes effects, as this research focused solely on main effects.
Even though experimental design was developed after a series of exploratory interviews
and participants reported a realistic task, it would be valuable to further explore attributes of cost,
49
supplier location and relationship length and traceability levels. This research opted for no trade-
off on cost, or impose a budget constrain to vignette description, this approach could have
influenced attributes ranking order. To further investigate this issue, a willingness to pay
experiment could be employed. A distant supplier could be interpreted as harder to monitor and
control, however other topics could relate to a specific location such as cost, quality, production
time and expertise. Therefore, future research is needed to investigate buyers’ sensemaking of
supplier location.
50
REFERENCES
Alexander, C. S., & Becker, H. J. (1978). The Use of Vignettes in Survey Research. Public Opinion
Quarterly, 42(1), 93. https://doi.org/10.1086/268432
Ateş, M. A., Wynstra, F., & van Raaij, E. M. (2015). An exploratory analysis of the relationship
between purchase category strategies and supply base structure. Journal of Purchasing and
Supply Management, 21(3), 204–219. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pursup.2015.04.007
Modern Slavery Act 2018, Federal Register of Legislation (2018).
https://www.legislation.gov.au/Details/C2018A00153
Barrientos, S. (2008). Contract labour: The “Achilles Heel” of corporate codes in commercial value
chains. Development and Change, 39(6), 977–990. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-
7660.2008.00524.x
Barrientos, S. (2013). “Labour Chains”: Analysing the Role of Labour Contractors in Global
Production Networks. Journal of Development Studies, 49(8), 1058–1071.
https://doi.org/10.1080/00220388.2013.780040
Barrientos, S., Kothari, U., & Phillips, N. (2013). Dynamics of Unfree Labour in the Contemporary
Global Economy. Journal of Development Studies, 49(8), 1037–1041.
https://doi.org/10.1080/00220388.2013.780043
BBC. (2020, March 2). China Uighurs “moved into factory forced labour” for foreign brands -
BBC News. 1–4. https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-china-51697800
Benstead, A. V., Hendry, L. C., & Stevenson, M. (2018). Horizontal collaboration in response to
modern slavery legislation: An action research projec. International Journal of Operations &
Production Management, 38(12), 2286–2312. https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1108/ IJOPM-
10-2017-0611
Benstead, A. V., Hendry, L. C., & Stevenson, M. (2020). Detecting and remediating modern
slavery in supply chains: a targeted audit approach. Production Planning and Control, 0(0),
1–22. https://doi.org/10.1080/09537287.2020.1795290
Beske, P., & Seuring, S. (2014). Putting sustainability into supply chain management. Supply Chain
Management, 19(3), 322–331. https://doi.org/10.1108/SCM-12-2013-0432
Birkey, R. N., Guidry, R. P., Islam, M. A., & Patten, D. M. (2018). Mandated Social Disclosure:
An Analysis of the Response to the California Transparency in Supply Chains Act of 2010.
Journal of Business Ethics, 152(3), 827–841. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10551-016-3364-7
51
Blome, C., & Paulraj, A. (2013). Ethical Climate and Purchasing Social Responsibility: A
Benevolence Focus. Journal of Business Ethics, 116(3), 567–585.
https://doi.org/10.1007/s10551-012-1481-5
Bushman, R. M., Piotroski, J. D., & Smith, A. J. (2004). What Determines Corporate
Transparency? Journal of Accounting Research, 42(2), 207–252.
https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1475-679X.2004.00136.x
Carter, C. R. (2005). Purchasing social responsibility and firm performance: The key mediating
roles of organizational learning and supplier performance. International Journal of Physical
Distribution and Logistics Management, 35(3), 177–194.
https://doi.org/10.1108/09600030510594567
Carter, C. R., & Jennings, M. M. (2004). the Role of Purchasing in Corporate Social Responsibility:
a Structural Equation Analysis. Journal of Business Logistics, 25(1), 145–186.
https://doi.org/10.1002/j.2158-1592.2004.tb00173.x
Carter, C. R., & Rogers, D. S. (2008). A framework of sustainable supply chain management:
Moving toward new theory. International Journal of Physical Distribution and Logistics
Management, 38(5), 360–387. https://doi.org/10.1108/09600030810882816
Caruana, R., Crane, A., Gold, S., & LeBaron, G. (2020). Modern Slavery in Business: The Sad and
Sorry State of a Non-Field. Business & Society, Advance on, 1–37.
https://doi.org/10.1177/0007650320930417
Chen, J. Y., & Slotnick, S. A. (2015). Supply chain disclosure and ethical sourcing. International
Journal of Production Economics, 161, 17–30. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijpe.2014.11.001
Chen, L., & Lee, H. L. (2017). Sourcing under supplier responsibility risk: The effects of
certification, audit, and contingency payment. Management Science, 63(9), 2795–2812.
https://doi.org/10.1287/mnsc.2016.2466
Chesney, T., Evans, K., Gold, S., & Trautrims, A. (2019). Understanding labour exploitation in the
Spanish agricultural sector using an agent based approach. Journal of Cleaner Production,
214, 696–704. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2018.12.282
Cho, S. H., Fang, X., Tayur, S., & Xu, Y. (2019). Combating child labor: Incentives and
information disclosure in global supply chains. Manufacturing and Service Operations
Management, 21(3), 692–711. https://doi.org/10.1287/msom.2018.0733
Christ, K. L., Rao, K. K., & Burritt, R. L. (2019). Accounting for modern slavery: an analysis of
52
Australian listed company disclosures. Accounting, Auditing and Accountability Journal,
32(3), 836–865. https://doi.org/10.1108/AAAJ-11-2017-3242
Cohen, P. (2014). Applied Multiple Regression/Correlation Analysis for the Behavioral Sciences.
In Applied Multiple Regression/Correlation Analysis for the Behavioral Sciences (2nd Editio).
Taylor & Francis. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781410606266
Cole, R., & Aitken, J. (2019). Selecting suppliers for socially sustainable supply chain
management:post-exchange supplier development activities as pre-selection requirements.
Production Planning and Control, 30(14), 1184–1202.
https://doi.org/10.1080/09537287.2019.1595208
Cole, R., & Aitken, J. (2020). The role of intermediaries in establishing a sustainable supply chain.
Journal of Purchasing and Supply Management, 26(2), 100533.
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pursup.2019.04.001
Crane, A. (2013). Modern Slavery As A Management Practice: Exploring the Conditions and
Capabilities for Human Exploitation. Academy of Management Review, 38(1), 49–69.
https://doi.org/10.5465/amr.2011.0145
Crane, A., LeBaron, G., Allain, J., & Behbahani, L. (2019). Governance gaps in eradicating forced
labor: From global to domestic supply chains. Regulation and Governance, 13(1), 86–106.
https://doi.org/10.1111/rego.12162
Croom, S., Vidal, N., Spetic, W., Marshall, D., & McCarthy, L. (2018). Impact of social
sustainability orientation and supply chain practices on operational performance.
International Journal of Operations and Production Management, 38(12), 2344–2366.
https://doi.org/10.1108/IJOPM-03-2017-0180
Croson, R., Schultz, K., Siemsen, E., & Yeo, M. L. (2013). Behavioral operations: The state of the
field. Journal of Operations Management, 31(1–2), 1–5.
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jom.2012.12.001
de Bekker-Grob, E. W., Donkers, B., Jonker, M. F., & Stolk, E. A. (2015). Sample Size
Requirements for Discrete-Choice Experiments in Healthcare: a Practical Guide. Patient,
8(5), 373–384. https://doi.org/10.1007/s40271-015-0118-z
Dickson, G. W. (1966). An Analysis Of Vendor Selection Systems And Decisions. Journal of
Purchasing, 2(1), 5–17. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1745-493X.1966.tb00818.x
Doorey, D. J. (2011). The Transparent Supply Chain: from Resistance to Implementation at Nike
53
and Levi-Strauss. Journal of Business Ethics, 103(4), 587–603.
https://doi.org/10.1007/s10551-011-0882-1
Eckerd, S., & Bendoly, E. (2011). Introduction to the discussion forum on using experiments in
supply chain management research. Journal of Supply Chain Management, 47(3), 3–4.
https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1745-493X.2011.03231.x
Eckerd, S., DuHadway, S., Bendoly, E., Carter, C., & Kaufmann, L. (2020). On making
experimental design choices: Discussions on the use and challenges of demand effects,
incentives, deception, samples, and vignettes. Journal of Operations Management, October
2020, 261–275. https://doi.org/10.1002/joom.1128
Egels-Zandén, N., Hulthén, K., & Wulff, G. (2015). Trade-offs in supply chain transparency: The
case of Nudie Jeans Co. Journal of Cleaner Production, 107, 95–104.
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2014.04.074
Ehrgott, M., Reimann, F., Kaufmann, L., & Carter, C. R. (2011). Social Sustainability in Selecting
Emerging Economy Suppliers. Journal of Business Ethics, 98(1), 99–119.
https://doi.org/10.1007/s10551-010-0537-7
Flynn, A. (2020). Determinants of corporate compliance with modern slavery reporting. Supply
Chain Management, 25(1), 1–16. https://doi.org/10.1108/SCM-10-2018-0369
Flynn, A., & Walker, H. (2020). Corporate responses to modern slavery risks: an institutional
theory perspective. European Business Review. https://doi.org/10.1108/EBR-05-2019-0092
Foerstl, K., Reuter, C., Hartmann, E., & Blome, C. (2010). Managing supplier sustainability risks
in a dynamically changing environment-Sustainable supplier management in the chemical
industry. Journal of Purchasing and Supply Management, 16(2), 118–130.
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pursup.2010.03.011
Fracarolli Nunes, M., Lee Park, C., & Paiva, E. L. (2020). Can we have it all? Sustainability trade-
offs and cross-insurance mechanisms in supply chains. International Journal of Operations
& Production Management, ahead-of-p(ahead-of-print), 1–14.
https://doi.org/10.1108/IJOPM-12-2019-0802
Fransen, L., & LeBaron, G. (2019). Big audit firms as regulatory intermediaries in transnational
labor governance. Regulation and Governance, 13(2), 260–279.
https://doi.org/10.1111/rego.12224
Garcia-Torres, S., Albareda, L., Rey-Garcia, M., & Seuring, S. (2019). Traceability for
54
sustainability – literature review and conceptual framework. Supply Chain Management,
24(1), 85–106. https://doi.org/10.1108/SCM-04-2018-0152
Gereffi, G. (1994). The Organization of Buyer-Driven Global Commodity Chains: How US
Retailers Shape Overseas Production Networks. In G. Gereffi & M. Korzeniewicz (Eds.),
Commodity Chains and Global Capitalism (pp. 95–122). Praeger.
German, L. A., Bonanno, A. M., Foster, L. C., & Cotula, L. (2020). “Inclusive business” in
agriculture: Evidence from the evolution of agricultural value chains. World Development,
134. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.worlddev.2020.105018
Giannakis, M., & Papadopoulos, T. (2016). Supply chain sustainability: A risk management
approach. International Journal of Production Economics, 171, 455–470.
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijpe.2015.06.032
Goebel, P., Reuter, C., Pibernik, R., Sichtmann, C., & Bals, L. (2018). Purchasing managers’
willingness to pay for attributes that constitute sustainability. Journal of Operations
Management, 62(September), 44–58. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jom.2018.08.002
Gold, S., & Heikkurinen, P. (2018). Transparency fallacy: Unintended consequences of stakeholder
claims on responsibility in supply chains. Accounting, Auditing and Accountability Journal,
31(1), 318–337. https://doi.org/10.1108/AAAJ-06-2015-2088
Gold, S., Trautrims, A., & Trodd, Z. (2015). Modern slavery challenges to supply chain
management. Supply Chain Management, 20(5), 485–494. https://doi.org/10.1108/SCM-02-
2015-0046
Griffis, S. E., Autry, C. W., Thornton, L. M., & Brik, A. Ben. (2014). Assessing Antecedents of
Socially Responsible Supplier Selection in Three Global Supply Chain Contexts. Decision
Sciences, 45(6), 1187–1215. https://doi.org/10.1111/deci.12101
Hahn, R., & Gold, S. (2014). Resources and governance in “base of the pyramid”-partnerships:
Assessing collaborations between businesses and non-business actors. Journal of Business
Research, 67(7), 1321–1333. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jbusres.2013.09.002
Hajmohammad, S., & Vachon, S. (2016). Mitigation, Avoidance, or Acceptance? Managing
Supplier Sustainability Risk. Journal of Supply Chain Management, 52(2), 48–65.
https://doi.org/10.1111/jscm.12099
Hensher, D. A., Rose, J. M., & Greene, W. H. (2015). Applied Choice Analysis (Second edi, Issue
March). Cambridge University Press.
55
https://doi.org/http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/CBO9781316136232
Hofmann, H., Busse, C., Bode, C., & Henke, M. (2014). Sustainability-Related Supply Chain
Risks: Conceptualization and Management. Business Strategy and the Environment, 23(3),
160–172. https://doi.org/10.1002/bse.1778
Huq, F. A., Chowdhury, I. N., & Klassen, R. D. (2016). Social management capabilities of
multinational buying firms and their emerging market suppliers: An exploratory study of the
clothing industry. Journal of Operations Management, 46, 19–37.
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jom.2016.07.005
International Labor Organization, & Walk Free Foundation. (2017). Global Estimates of Modern
Slavery: Forced Labour and Forced Marriage. http://www.ilo.org/wcmsp5/groups/public/---
dgreports/---dcomm/documents/publication/wcms_575479.pdf
Jacobs, B. W., & Singhal, V. R. (2017). The effect of the Rana Plaza disaster on shareholder wealth
of retailers : Implications for sourcing strategies and supply chain. Journal of Operations
Management, 1–15. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jom.2017.01.002
Jaiswal, G., & Ha-Brookshire, J. E. (2020). The effect of buyers’ power on suppliers’ motivations
in managing their compliance mechanisms: a study of Indian apparel export firms. Journal of
Fashion Marketing and Management, 24(2), 153–173. https://doi.org/10.1108/JFMM-10-
2018-0138
Jiang, B. (2009). Implementing supplier codes of conduct in global supply chains: Process
explanations from theoretic and empirical perspectives. Journal of Business Ethics, 85(1), 77–
92. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10551-008-9750-z
Kim, S., & Chae, S. (2021). Shareholder Value Effects of Ethical Sourcing: Comparing Reactive
and Proactive Initiatives. Journal of Business Ethics, 0123456789.
https://doi.org/10.1007/s10551-021-04841-0
Kim, S., Colicchia, C., & Menachof, D. (2018). Ethical Sourcing: An Analysis of the Literature
and Implications for Future Research. Journal of Business Ethics, 152(4), 1033–1052.
https://doi.org/10.1007/s10551-016-3266-8
Klassen, R. D., & Vereecke, A. (2012). Social issues in supply chains: Capabilities link
responsibility, risk (opportunity), and performance. International Journal of Production
Economics, 140(1), 103–115. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijpe.2012.01.021
Lam, H. K. S. (2018). Doing good across organizational boundaries: Sustainable supply chain
56
practices and firms’ financial risk. International Journal of Operations and Production
Management, 38(12), 2389–2412. https://doi.org/10.1108/IJOPM-02-2018-0056
LeBaron, G., & Rühmkorf, A. (2017). Steering CSR Through Home State Regulation: A
Comparison of the Impact of the UK Bribery Act and Modern Slavery Act on Global Supply
Chain Governance. Global Policy, 8(May), 15–28. https://doi.org/10.1111/1758-5899.12398
LeBaron, G., & Rühmkorf, A. (2019). The domestic politics of corporate accountability legislation:
Struggles over the 2015 UK Modern Slavery Act. Socio-Economic Review, 17(3), 709–743.
https://doi.org/10.1093/ser/mwx047
Lee, H. H., Lee, M., & Ma, Y. J. (2018). Consumer responses to company disclosure of socially
responsible efforts. Fashion and Textiles, 5(1). https://doi.org/10.1186/s40691-018-0142-4
Lonati, S., Quiroga, B. F., Zehnder, C., & Antonakis, J. (2018). On doing relevant and rigorous
experiments: Review and recommendations. Journal of Operations Management,
64(October), 19–40. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jom.2018.10.003
Louviere, J. J. (1984). Using discrete choice experiments and multinomial logit choice models to
forecast trial in a competitive retail environment: A fast food restaurant illustration. Journal
of Retailing, 60(4), 81–107.
MacLean, R., & Rebernak, K. (2007). Closing the credibility gap: The challenges of corporate
responsibility reporting. Environmental Quality Management, 16(4), 1–6.
https://doi.org/10.1002/tqem.20137
Maertens, M., & Swinnen, J. F. M. (2012). Gender and Modern Supply Chains in Developing
Countries. Journal of Development Studies, 48(10), 1412–1430.
https://doi.org/10.1080/00220388.2012.663902
Marques, L., Erthal, A., Schott, C. S. da C. M., & Morais, D. (2021). Inhospitable accessibility and
blurred liability: Institutional voids in an emerging economy preventing supply network
transparency. BAR - Brazilian Administration Review, 18(2). https://doi.org/10.1590/1807-
7692bar2021200078
Miemczyk, J., & Luzzini, D. (2019). Achieving triple bottom line sustainability in supply chains:
The role of environmental, social and risk assessment practices. International Journal of
Operations and Production Management, 39(2), 238–259. https://doi.org/10.1108/IJOPM-
06-2017-0334
Modern Slavery Act 2015, TSO (The Stationery Office), The Houses of Parliament 84 (2015).
57
http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2015/30/pdfs/ukpga_20150030_en.pdf
Mol, A. P. J. (2015). Transparency and value chain sustainability. Journal of Cleaner Production,
107, 154–161. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2013.11.012
Monciardini, D., Bernaz, N., & Andhov, A. (2019). The Organizational Dynamics of Compliance
With the UK Modern Slavery Act in the Food and Tobacco Sector. Business and Society, 1–
53. https://doi.org/10.1177/0007650319898195
Montecchi, M., Plangger, K., & West, D. C. (2021). Supply chain transparency: A bibliometric
review and research agenda. International Journal of Production Economics, 238(August
2020), 108152. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijpe.2021.108152
New, S. (2010). The transparent supply chain. Harvard Business Review, 88(10), 7.
New, S. J. (2015). Modern slavery and the supply chain: the limits of corporate social
responsibility? Supply Chain Management, 20(6), 697–707. https://doi.org/10.1108/SCM-06-
2015-0201
Pagell, M., Wu, Z., & Wasserman, M. E. (2010). Thinking differently about purchasing portfolios:
An assessment of sustainable sourcing. Journal of Supply Chain Management, 46(1), 57–73.
https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1745-493X.2009.03186.x
Pournader, M., Kach, A., & Talluri, S. (2020). A Review of the Existing and Emerging Topics in
the Supply Chain Risk Management Literature. Decision Sciences, 51(4), 867–919.
https://doi.org/10.1111/deci.12470
Quirk, J. (2006). The anti-slavery project: Linking the historical and contemporary. Human Rights
Quarterly, 28(3), 565–598. https://doi.org/10.1353/hrq.2006.0036
Ravindran, K., Susarla, A., Mani, D., & Gurbaxani, V. (2015). Social capital and contract duration
in buyer-supplier networks for information technology outsourcing. Information Systems
Research, 26(2), 379–397. https://doi.org/10.1287/isre.2015.0572
Reuter, C., Foerstl, K., Hartmann, E., & Blome, C. (2010). Sustainable global supplier
management: The role of dynamic capabilities in achieving competitive advantage. Journal
of Supply Chain Management, 46(2), 45–63. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1745-
493X.2010.03189.x
Roehrich, J. K., Grosvold, J., & Hoejmose, S. U. (2014). Reputational risks and sustainable supply
chain management: Decision making under bounded rationality. International Journal of
Operations and Production Management, 34(5), 695–719. https://doi.org/10.1108/IJOPM-
58
10-2012-0449
Rogerson, M., Crane, A., Soundararajan, V., Grosvold, J., & Cho, C. H. (2020). Organisational
responses to mandatory modern slavery disclosure legislation: a failure of experimentalist
governance? Accounting, Auditing and Accountability Journal, ahead-of-p.
https://doi.org/10.1108/AAAJ-12-2019-4297
Rungtusanatham, M., Wallin, C., & Eckerd, S. (2011). The vignette in a scenario-based role-
playing experiment. Journal of Supply Chain Management, 47(3), 9–16.
https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1745-493X.2011.03232.x
Sarah Roberts. (2003). Understanding the Patchy Success of Ethical Sourcing Initatives. Journal
of Business Ethics, 44, 159–170.
Saunders, L. W., Tate, W. L., Zsidisin, G. A., & Miemczyk, J. (2019). The Influence of Network
Exchange Brokers on Sustainable Initiatives in Organizational Networks. Journal of Business
Ethics, 154(3), 849–868. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10551-017-3436-3
Sayed, M., Hendry, L. C., & Zorzini Bell, M. (2020). Sustainable procurement: comparing in-house
and outsourcing implementation modes. Production Planning and Control, 0(0), 1–24.
https://doi.org/10.1080/09537287.2020.1717661
Shafiq, A., Ahmed, M. U., & Mahmoodi, F. (2020). Impact of supply chain analytics and customer
pressure for ethical conduct on socially responsible practices and performance: An
exploratory study. International Journal of Production Economics, 225(December 2019),
107571. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijpe.2019.107571
Shao, L., Ryan, J. K., & Sun, D. (2020). Responsible Sourcing under Asymmetric Information:
Price Signaling versus Supplier Disclosure. Decision Sciences, 00(00), 1–28.
https://doi.org/10.1111/deci.12482
Sodhi, M. S., & Tang, C. S. (2019). Research Opportunities in Supply Chain Transparency.
Production and Operations Management, 28(12), 2946–2959.
https://doi.org/10.1111/poms.13115
Stevenson, M., & Cole, R. (2018). Modern slavery in supply chains: a secondary data analysis of
detection, remediation and disclosure. Supply Chain Management, 23(2), 81–99.
https://doi.org/10.1108/SCM-11-2017-0382
The California Transparency in Supply Chains Act, (2010). https://oag.ca.gov/SB657
The Guardian. (2020, June 30). Some Leicester factories stayed open and forced staff to come in,
59
report warns. Bland, Archie Campbell, Denis, 1–5. https://www.theguardian.com/uk-
news/2020/jun/30/some-leicester-factories-stayed-open-and-forced-staff-to-come-
in?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other
The Washington Post. (1998, May). Bad for business. Dionne Jr., E. J.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/opinions/1998/05/15/bad-for-business/112d99ce-
a98c-479a-8b4e-9c371c786f36/
Thomas, R., Darby, J. L., Dobrzykowski, D., & van Hoek, R. (2020). Decomposing Social
Sustainability: Signaling Theory Insights into Supplier Selection Decisions. Journal of Supply
Chain Management, 1–20. https://doi.org/10.1111/jscm.12247
Thornton, L. M., Autry, C. W., & Gligor, D. M. (2013). Does Socially Responsible Supplier
Selection Pay Off for Customer Firms? A Cross‐Cultural Comparison. 49(3).
https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1111/jscm.12014
Train, K. E. (2002). Discrete choice methods with simulation. In Discrete Choice Methods with
Simulation (Vol. 9780521816). Cambridge University Press.
https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511753930
Villa, S., & Castañeda, J. A. (2020). A behavioural investigation of power and gender heterogeneity
in operations management under uncertainty. Management Research Review, 43(6), 753–771.
https://doi.org/10.1108/MRR-05-2019-0229
Villena, V. H., & Dhanorkar, S. (2020). How institutional pressures and managerial incentives
elicit carbon transparency in global supply chains. Journal of Operations Management,
March, 1–38. https://doi.org/10.1002/joom.1088
Villena, V. H., & Gioia, D. A. (2018). On the riskiness of lower-tier suppliers: Managing
sustainability in supply networks. Journal of Operations Management, 64(December 2017),
65–87. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jom.2018.09.004
Wilhelm, M., Kadfak, A., Bhakoo, V., & Skattang, K. (2020). Private governance of human and
labor rights in seafood supply chains – The case of the modern slavery crisis in Thailand.
Marine Policy, 115(January), 103833. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.marpol.2020.103833
Wilhelm, M. M., Blome, C., Bhakoo, V., & Paulraj, A. (2016). Sustainability in multi-tier supply
chains: Understanding the double agency role of the first-tier supplier. Journal of Operations
Management, 41, 42–60. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jom.2015.11.001
Xiao, C., Wilhelm, M., van der Vaart, T., & van Donk, D. P. (2019). Inside the Buying Firm:
60
Exploring Responses to Paradoxical Tensions in Sustainable Supply Chain Management.
Journal of Supply Chain Management, 55(1), 3–20. https://doi.org/10.1111/jscm.12170
Yawar, S. A., & Seuring, S. (2017). Management of Social Issues in Supply Chains: A Literature
Review Exploring Social Issues, Actions and Performance Outcomes. Journal of Business
Ethics, 141(3), 621–643. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10551-015-2719-9
Yawar, S. A., & Seuring, S. (2018). The role of supplier development in managing social and
societal issues in supply chains. Journal of Cleaner Production, 182, 227–237.
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2018.01.234
Zizzo, D. J. (2010). Experimenter demand effects in economic experiments. Experimental
Economics, 13(1), 75–98. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10683-009-9230-z
Zorzini, M., Hendry, L. C., Anisul Huq, F., & Stevenson, M. (2015). Socially responsible sourcing:
reviewing the literature and its use of theory. International Journal of Operations &
Production Management, 35(1), 60–109. https://doi.org/http://dx.doi.org/10.1108/MRR-09-
2015-0216
61
APPENDICES
Appendix A – Research protocol (Portuguese)
Cover page:
Muito obrigado por fazer parte desta pesquisa sobre seleção de fornecedores. A sua participação é
muito importante para o sucesso deste estudo!
Leia com atenção todas as instruções da pesquisa e lembre-se de que não existem respostas certas
ou erradas, apenas respostas que são verdadeiras para você.
Este questionário levará cerca de 5 a 10 minutos.
Todas as informações coletadas durante o preenchimento são confidenciais e serão
anonimizadas.
Ao final do questionário você poderá informar seu e-mail de contato caso queira receber o
sumário executivo com os resultados da pesquisa. O preenchimento do e-mail não é obrigatório e
será utilizado apenas para o retorno dos resultados como forma de agradecimento pela sua
participação.
Você pode, a qualquer momento durante o preenchimento deste questionário, desistir da sua
participação. Ao concluir o questionário você consente com o uso de suas respostas neste estudo.
Caso esteja ciente das instruções descritas acima e concorde em participar deste estudo, clique em
"iniciar questionário".
Você poderá tirar dúvidas sobre o projeto de pesquisa e sobre sua participação entrando em
contato com a pesquisadora Victoria Esquilar através do e-mail [email protected]. O
termo de consentimento completo está disponível neste link.
64
Common module
Se imagine na seguinte situação:
Você é o gerente de compras da Fashion, uma varejista de moda feminina.
A Fashion tem como missão “Oferecer aos nossos clientes acesso à moda através de preços
acessíveis e coleções modernas” e as políticas da empresa refletem sua missão.
Na semana passada você enviou um pedido de cotação de 10.000 camisetas básicas de algodão
para fornecedores de peça acabada.
O custo médio da unidade de camiseta acabada nas últimas compras é de R$7,00.
A Fashion tem uma política de relação com fornecedores pré-estabelecida. Todos os fornecedores
na sua base, incluindo os novos fornecedores, possuem:
• Prazo de entrega de 45 dias (incluindo o frete);
• Prazo de pagamento de 120 dias após a entrega;
• Qualidade em um nível aceitável para o público da marca;
• Alta confiabilidade de entrega.
Também é importante saber que o custo da peça acabada inclui todos os custos, inclusive de
transporte, até a chegada das peças no centro de distribuição central da Fashion.
65
Rating questions
Avalie os seguintes atributos de custo da peça acabada em termos de quão desejáveis eles são.
Indesejável Mais ou menos
desejável
Muito desejável Sem opinião
R$8,00
R$6,00
Avalie os seguintes atributos de localização do fornecedor em termos de quão desejáveis eles são.
Indesejável Mais ou menos
desejável
Muito desejável Sem opinião
Terceirização
doméstica
(Brasil)
Terceirização na
Ásia
Avalie os seguintes atributos de tempo de relacionamento com o fornecedor em termos de quão
desejáveis eles são.
Indesejável Mais ou menos
desejável
Muito desejável Sem opinião
8 anos
Novo fornecedor
Avalie os seguintes atributos de rastreabilidade da peça acabada em termos de quão desejáveis
eles são.
Indesejável Mais ou menos
desejável
Muito desejável Sem opinião
66
O fornecedor
apresenta notas
fiscais e faz
auditorias nos
subcontratados
O fornecedor
apresenta notas
fiscais quando
solicitado
O fornecedor
não compartilha
a informação
Avalie os seguintes atributos de rastreabilidade do tecido em termos de quão desejáveis eles são.
Indesejável Mais ou menos
desejável
Muito desejável Sem opinião
A Fashion
determina o
fornecedor do
tecido
O fornecedor
apresenta notas
fiscais quando
solicitado
O fornecedor
não compartilha
a informação
67
Discrete choice experimente (exemple)
Agora você irá analisar as cotações e escolher qual fornecedor receberá o pedido.
Se essas fossem suas únicas opções de fornecedores para a Fashion, qual você escolheria?
73
Manipulation checks
Com base no que você viu neste questionário, responda às seguintes perguntas:
A notícia que vi no início do questionário me alertou para a ocorrência de escravagismo moderno
na moda.
Concordo totalmente
Concordo
Não concordo nem discordo
Discordo
Discordo totalmente
A notícia que vi me fez pensar sobre as condições de trabalho em cadeias de suprimentos.
Concordo totalmente
Concordo
Não concordo nem discordo
Discordo
Discordo totalmente
O trecho de notícia que li estava relacionado com ética no mercado da moda.
Concordo totalmente
Concordo
Não concordo nem discordo
Discordo
Discordo totalmente
74
Realism check
A tarefa que realizei neste questionário é realista.
Concordo totalmente
Concordo
Não concordo nem discordo
Discordo
Discordo totalmente
Attention checks
Na situação apresentada anteriormente, você era:
Gerente de compras
Gerente de vendas
Na situação apresentada anteriormente, você trabalhava na:
Style
Fashion
Na situação apresentada anteriormente, você estava negociando:
Camisetas básicas
Bonés
Screening questions
Você possui experiência de trabalho no varejo ou indústria têxtil?
Sim
Não
75
Você possui experiência de trabalho em tarefas de seleção de fornecedores?
Sim
Não
Demografic questions
Você já trabalhou em uma empresa signatária do selo ABVTEX?
Sim
Não
Não sei
Para você, empresas com certificações como o selo ABVTEX são indicativos importantes de
práticas sustentáveis?
Concordo totalmente
Concordo
Não concordo nem discordo
Discordo
Discordo totalmente
Você possui quantos anos de experiência de trabalho?
5 anos ou menos
6 - 10 anos
11 - 15 anos
16 - 20 anos
21 - 25 anos
Mais que 25 anos
Top Related