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‘What Does This Mean?’: How UK Companies Make Sense of Human Rights

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  • OBARA, Louise J

Abstract

How do companies understand and talk about human rights? Do they consider human rights a moral, legal or political construct? What type of responsibility do they assume in respect of human rights (e.g., direct/indirect, narrow/broad)? Is the language and label of human rights used within day-to-day practice? This article attempts to address these questions by drawing on empirical data collected as part of an in-depth, qualitative study on the development of human rights within 22 UK companies. Through an analysis based on sensemaking, the article explores the meaning of human rights, the grounds used to justify corporate responsibility, and the human rights terminology and labels employed within the corporate setting. It then analyses what this understanding and discourse means for the debate about the role of private entities for the protection of human rights.

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  • OBARA, Louise J, 2017. "‘What Does This Mean?’: How UK Companies Make Sense of Human Rights," Business and Human Rights Journal, Cambridge University Press, vol. 2(2), pages 249-273, July.
    • Handle: RePEc:cup:buhurj:v:2:y:2017:i:02:p:249-273_00
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    Cited by:

    1. Obara, Louise J. & Peattie, Ken, 2018. "Bridging the great divide? Making sense of the human rights-CSR relationship in UK multinational companies," Journal of World Business, Elsevier, vol. 53(6), pages 781-793.
    2. Marisa McVey & John Ferguson & François-Régis Puyou, 2023. "“Traduttore, Traditore?” Translating Human Rights into the Corporate Context," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 182(3), pages 573-596, January.
    3. Ana Čertanec, 2019. "The Connection between Corporate Social Responsibility and Corporate Respect for Human Rights," DANUBE: Law and Economics Review, European Association Comenius - EACO, issue 2, pages 103-127, June.
    4. Lopatta, Kerstin & Tideman, Sebastian A. & Scheil, Carolin & Makarem, Naser, 2023. "The current state of corporate human rights disclosure of the global top 500 business enterprises: Measurement and determinants," CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES ON ACCOUNTING, Elsevier, vol. 96(C).
    5. Elisa Giuliani & Annamaria Tuan & José Calvimontes Cano, 2021. "Creating Shared Value Meets Human Rights: A Sense-Making Perspective in Small-Scale Firms," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 173(3), pages 489-505, October.
    6. Elisa GIULIANI, 2020. "Putting human rights into regional growth agendas: Where we stand and where we ought to go," Papers in Evolutionary Economic Geography (PEEG) 2042, Utrecht University, Department of Human Geography and Spatial Planning, Group Economic Geography, revised Sep 2020.
    7. Matthew Amengual & Rita Mota & Alexander Rustler, 2023. "The ‘Court of Public Opinion:’ Public Perceptions of Business Involvement in Human Rights Violations," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 185(1), pages 49-74, June.
    8. Wettstein, Florian & Giuliani, Elisa & Santangelo, Grazia D. & Stahl, Günter K., 2019. "International business and human rights: A research agenda," Journal of World Business, Elsevier, vol. 54(1), pages 54-65.

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