IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/bla/jscmgt/v57y2021i2p58-70.html

Designing Better Interventions: Insights from Research on Decent Work

Author

Listed:
  • Peter Hasle
  • Jan Vang

Abstract

Based on our experience of carrying out theoretically and practically sound interventions to improve working conditions in global supply chains, we show what makes interventions succeed or fail and what is required to ensure that an intervention’s results are sustainable in the future. Our suggestions are applicable to designing any intervention in supply chain research, but need tailoring to the local context. Our interventions were aimed at achieving decent working conditions in emerging‐country suppliers, but our insights are applicable for all supply chain scholars. In the context of emerging‐country suppliers, poor working conditions have been strongly criticized after the Rana Plaza accident and subsequently received more attention with the UN’s introduction of the Sustainable Development Goals (notably, SDG 8). Tensions between productivity‐enhancing and decent work logics create challenges for the design of interventions with long‐lasting performance improvements. This paper presents a way of overcoming the tensions by illustrating how interventions that integrate improvements in working conditions with productivity can be designed.

Suggested Citation

  • Peter Hasle & Jan Vang, 2021. "Designing Better Interventions: Insights from Research on Decent Work," Journal of Supply Chain Management, Institute for Supply Management, vol. 57(2), pages 58-70, April.
    • Handle: RePEc:bla:jscmgt:v:57:y:2021:i:2:p:58-70
    DOI: 10.1111/jscm.12261
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://doi.org/10.1111/jscm.12261
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1111/jscm.12261?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Juliane Reinecke & Jimmy Donaghey, 2021. "Towards Worker‐Driven Supply Chain Governance: Developing Decent Work Through Democratic Worker Participation," Journal of Supply Chain Management, Institute for Supply Management, vol. 57(2), pages 14-28, April.
    2. Chengyong Xiao & Miriam Wilhelm & Taco van der Vaart & Dirk Pieter van Donk, 2019. "Inside the Buying Firm: Exploring Responses to Paradoxical Tensions in Sustainable Supply Chain Management," Journal of Supply Chain Management, Institute for Supply Management, vol. 55(1), pages 3-20, January.
    3. Philip James & Lilian Miles & Richard Croucher & Mark Houssart, 2019. "Regulating factory safety in the Bangladeshi garment industry," Regulation & Governance, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 13(3), pages 431-444, September.
    4. Genevieve LeBaron, 2021. "The Role of Supply Chains in the Global Business of Forced Labour," Journal of Supply Chain Management, Institute for Supply Management, vol. 57(2), pages 29-42, April.
    5. Webster Edward, 2020. "The Uberisation of work: the challenge of regulating platform capitalism. A commentary," International Review of Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 34(4), pages 512-521, July.
    6. Vivek Soundararajan & Jill A. Brown, 2016. "Voluntary Governance Mechanisms in Global Supply Chains: Beyond CSR to a Stakeholder Utility Perspective," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 134(1), pages 83-102, March.
    7. Madeleine Pullman & Annachiara Longoni & Davide Luzzini, 2018. "EMERGING DISCOURSE INCUBATOR: The Roles of Institutional Complexity and Hybridity in Social Impact Supply Chain Management," Journal of Supply Chain Management, Institute for Supply Management, vol. 54(2), pages 3-20, April.
    8. Mark Pagell & David Johnston & Anthony Veltri & Robert Klassen & Markus Biehl, 2014. "Is Safe Production an Oxymoron?," Production and Operations Management, Production and Operations Management Society, vol. 23(7), pages 1161-1175, July.
    9. Anne Touboulic & Lucy McCarthy & Lee Matthews, 2020. "Re‐imagining supply chain challenges through critical engaged research," Journal of Supply Chain Management, Institute for Supply Management, vol. 56(2), pages 36-51, April.
    10. Behnam, Michael & MacLean, Tammy L., 2011. "Where Is the Accountability in International Accountability Standards?: A Decoupling Perspective," Business Ethics Quarterly, Cambridge University Press, vol. 21(1), pages 45-72, January.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Miguel Malek Maalouf & Peter Hasle & Jan Vang & Abu Hamja, 2021. "Complementarities between Operations and Occupational Health and Safety in Garments," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(8), pages 1-20, April.
    2. Leonardo Marques & Dafne Morais & Ana Terra, 2025. "More than meets the eye: Misconduct and decoupling against blockchain for supply chain transparency," Post-Print hal-05100211, HAL.
    3. Ritika Mahajan & Satish Kumar & Weng Marc Lim & Monica Sareen, 2024. "The role of business and management in driving the sustainable development goals (SDGs): Current insights and future directions from a systematic review," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 33(5), pages 4493-4529, July.
    4. Tra‐my T. Le & Chikako Oka & Valentina Carbone & Aurélien Acquier, 2025. "Workers’ Responses to CSR Decoupling in Garment Supply Chains: A Hirschmanian Perspective," Post-Print hal-05295655, HAL.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Vivek Soundararajan & Miriam M. Wilhelm & Andrew Crane, 2021. "Humanizing Research on Working Conditions in Supply Chains: Building a Path to Decent Work," Journal of Supply Chain Management, Institute for Supply Management, vol. 57(2), pages 3-13, April.
    2. Bruce Pinnington & Joanne Meehan, 2023. "Learning to see modern slavery in supply chains through paradoxical sensemaking," Journal of Supply Chain Management, Institute for Supply Management, vol. 59(4), pages 22-41, October.
    3. Chunyun Li & Sarosh Kuruvilla, 2023. "Corporate codes of conduct and labour turnover in global apparel supply chains," British Journal of Industrial Relations, London School of Economics, vol. 61(3), pages 481-505, September.
    4. Seongtae Kim & Sangho Chae & Stephan M. Wagner & Jason W. Miller, 2022. "Buyer abusive behavior and supplier welfare: An empirical study of truck owner–operators," Journal of Supply Chain Management, Institute for Supply Management, vol. 58(4), pages 90-111, October.
    5. Aline Pietrix Seepma & Dirk Pieter van Donk & Carolien de Blok, 2021. "On publicness theory and its implications for supply chain integration: The case of criminal justice supply chains," Journal of Supply Chain Management, Institute for Supply Management, vol. 57(3), pages 72-103, July.
    6. Gabriela Gutierrez-Huerter O & Stefan Gold & Alexander Trautrims, 2023. "Change in Rhetoric but not in Action? Framing of the Ethical Issue of Modern Slavery in a UK Sector at High Risk of Labor Exploitation," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 182(1), pages 35-58, January.
    7. Babbitt, Laura G. & Brown, Drusilla & Antolin, Ana & Toosi, Negin R., 2023. "Improving migration experiences for workers: Recruitment practices along the Bangladesh–Qatar corridor," World Development Perspectives, Elsevier, vol. 30(C).
    8. Tra‐my T. Le & Chikako Oka & Valentina Carbone & Aurélien Acquier, 2025. "Workers’ Responses to CSR Decoupling in Garment Supply Chains: A Hirschmanian Perspective," Post-Print hal-05295655, HAL.
    9. Janina Grabs & Rachael D. Garrett, 2023. "Goal-Based Private Sustainability Governance and Its Paradoxes in the Indonesian Palm Oil Sector," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 188(3), pages 467-507, December.
    10. Kelsey M. Taylor & Eugenia Rosca, 2023. "Sink, swim, or drift: How social enterprises use supply chain social capital to balance tensions between impact and viability," Journal of Supply Chain Management, Institute for Supply Management, vol. 59(2), pages 62-86, April.
    11. Rodney Thomas & Jessica L. Darby & David Dobrzykowski & Remko van Hoek, 2021. "Decomposing Social Sustainability: Signaling Theory Insights into Supplier Selection Decisions," Journal of Supply Chain Management, Institute for Supply Management, vol. 57(4), pages 117-136, October.
    12. Kelly Gerard, 2023. "Doing aid chains differently: Evaluating the potential of Multi‐Stakeholder Partnerships," Development Policy Review, Overseas Development Institute, vol. 41(1), January.
    13. Geri L Dimas & Renata A Konrad & Kayse Lee Maass & Andrew C Trapp, 2022. "Operations research and analytics to combat human trafficking: A systematic review of academic literature," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 17(8), pages 1-24, August.
    14. Chikako Oka & Niklas Egels‐zandén & Rachel Alexander, 2020. "Buyer Engagement and Labour Conditions in Global Supply Chains: The Bangladesh Accord and Beyond," Post-Print hal-02952114, HAL.
    15. Olivier Boiral & Marie‐Christine Brotherton & Léo Rivaud & David Talbot, 2022. "Comparing the uncomparable? An investigation of car manufacturers' climate performance," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 31(5), pages 2213-2229, July.
    16. Blanka Tundys & Tomasz Wisniewski & Andrzej Rzeczycki & Urszula Chrachol-Barczyk & Agnieszka Pokorska, 2020. "Vulnerability of Sustainable Supply Chains: Demand-Side Approach," European Research Studies Journal, European Research Studies Journal, vol. 0(Special 2), pages 123-136.
    17. Simone Carmine & Valentina De Marchi, 2023. "Reviewing Paradox Theory in Corporate Sustainability Toward a Systems Perspective," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 184(1), pages 139-158, April.
    18. Ruthanne Huising & Susan S. Silbey, 2021. "Accountability infrastructures: Pragmatic compliance inside organizations," Regulation & Governance, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 15(S1), pages 40-62, November.
    19. M. K. Dhillon & P. M. Rafi-Ul-Shan & H. Amar & F. Sher & S. Ahmed, 2023. "Flexible Green Supply Chain Management in Emerging Economies: A Systematic Literature Review," Global Journal of Flexible Systems Management, Springer;Global Institute of Flexible Systems Management, vol. 24(1), pages 1-28, March.
    20. Seepana, Chandrasekararao & Paulraj, Antony & Datar, Aneesh, 2025. "Environmental uncertainties and reciprocal investments within coopetition: The contingent role of appropriability mechanisms," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 290(C).

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:bla:jscmgt:v:57:y:2021:i:2:p:58-70. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Wiley Content Delivery (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.blackwellpublishing.com/journal.asp?ref=1523-2409 .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.