Modern Slavery in Supply Chains: A Framing Perspective on Managerial Responses to Transparency Legislation

ABSTRACT

Innovative legislation aspires for an extra‐jurisdictional effect on modern slavery in supply chains through increased transparency. Evidence to date suggests that firms are not rising to this challenge, and, if anything, mandatory reporting practices are coalescing around superficial reports decoupled from policy objectives. To decide how the regulatory regime should best be adapted, it is important to understand not just the organizational‐level response but also the underlying managerial attitudes and behavior on which substantive practical action depends. The study utilized a photo elicitation method with 47 managers drawn from eight large UK construction firms. Framing theory was utilized to reveal four distinct managerial mindsets, each with different implications for policy and practice. These variants suggest that a one‐size‐fits‐all policy approach is suboptimal. Policy combining rewards and penalties, tailored to each framing group, is likely to be the most expedient in quickly improving managerial behavior. The existence of inconsistent framing within firms suggests that strategic policies are not being effectively embedded in managerial practice. In turn, this limits the impact that focal firms have in improving labor practices across multiple tiers of their supply chains. Reporting entities should not be treated as cohesive, unitary entities by stakeholders.