Workers’ Responses to CSR Decoupling in Garment Supply Chains: A Hirschmanian Perspective

This study examines the paradoxical portrayal of supply chain workers in the literature as passive and obedient while complicit or rebellious in the face of substandard working conditions in supplier facilities. Specifically, it examines how workers respond to poor labor conditions caused by corporate social responsibility (CSR) decoupling, or the discrepancy between suppliers' formal policies and actual factory-floor practices. Drawing from 40 interviews in Vietnam's garment industry and building on Hirschman's exit, voice, and loyalty framework and its extensions, the authors develop a dynamic framework of when and how workers respond to decoupled practices. This article contributes to three key areas of research. First, it elucidates workers' role in both accepting and resisting CSR decoupling, advancing the literature on CSR decoupling in global supply chains, which has traditionally focused on buyers or suppliers. Second, it responds to calls for humanizing the sustainable supply chain management literature by emphasizing factory-level workers and the value of studying less powerful actors. Third, it adapts Hirschman's model to supply chain contexts and their unique dynamics. The findings also provide relevant guidance for policymakers and practitioners, demonstrating the need to strengthen worker voice through a multipronged approach.