Table 5. Summary of theories applied to... | Emerald Publishing

Table 5.

Summary of theories applied to MS and research directions

Theory, discipline, key premise	Potential research directions (RDs) for MS
Environmental level
Institutional theory Sociology Firms are embedded in and influenced by institutional contexts within which they operate	RD1: Investigate and measure direct and indirect institutional pressures for MS-free SCs across different products, services and industries, and analyze the response of firms to these pressures RD2: Analyze how institutional voids affect the adoption, implementation and monitoring of MS-free practices in GSCs RD3: Examine institutionalization of MS-free practices at different firm levels; investigate multilevel (micro–meso–macro) and micro-foundations (individual-level) of institutionalization of MS-free practices in MNCs and their SCs RD4: Explore institutional resistance or rejection of adopting MS-free practices in SCs; analyze antecedents and consequences of institutional resistance using case studies of SCs in different industries; and investigate the strategies MNCs may use in response to institutional pressures to tackle MS
Stakeholder theory Strategic management/business ethics Firms generate externalities that affect stakeholders who apply pressure on firms to minimize negative and maximize positive effects	RD5: Examine how pressures from different types of stakeholders with different salience attributes can catalyze the adoption of MS-free practices in SCs RD6: Investigate how firms can use stakeholder engagement and collaboration to address MS in GSCs in various industries RD7: Apply international stakeholder theory to empirically analyze MNCs and their local and global stakeholders in GSCs; the relationships between the stakeholders, how they influence each other dependent on their salience, how they can exert pressure and prompt MNCs to adopt MS-free practices in GSCs and how they can help MNCs to tackle MS
Firm level
Resource-based view Economics/strategy Firms create competitive advantages by owning valuable and rare resources	RD8: Examine how firms can use MS reporting as an opportunity for organizational learning and make substantive changes to address MS and achieve competitive advantages RD9: Empirically investigate how MNCs can gain competitive advantages from MS-free SCs through buyer–supplier collaborations and governance mechanisms such as supplier selection, monitoring and development RD10: Using the four NRBV resources, investigate how firms can achieve competitiveness from MS-free, and ecologically and societally sustainable operations. Explore firm competitiveness at the MS-environment–BoP nexus
Resource dependence theory Organizational studies Firms are dependent on external parties for resources they need, and aim to reduce this dependence	RD11: Investigate the relationship between resource dependence and social sustainability performance of supply chains (i.e. supply chains free from MS); how MNCs’ resource dependence in SCs influences their ability to have MS-free SCs, and how MNCs could reduce their dependence on suppliers with high risks of MS RD12: Investigate SC creep, increasing dependencies, and changing power dynamics in SCs, and their impact on MS risks for focal firms RD13: Analyze how new technologies such as blockchain may impact resource dependence dynamics in the SC, facilitate MS-free resource acquisition by MNCs and improve implementation and monitoring of MS-free practices in the SC
Principal agent theory Economics Agency problems exist between principals and agents, necessitating contracts to align interests and prevent opportunistic behavior	RD14: Examine buyer–supplier agency problems in complex and multitiered GSCs, how they cause or enable MS to exist, and how these agency problems can be solved to address and eliminate MS RD15: Explore the double agency role of first-tier suppliers in combating MS and helping MNCs overcome the agency and institutional challenges associated with disseminating MS-free practices in GSCs, and how focal firms can incentivize their first-tier suppliers RD16: Scrutinize governance mechanisms to address agency problems that contribute to or facilitate the use of slave labor in SCs, and suggest the most effective governance mechanisms that MNCs can use to tackle MS
Transaction level
Transaction cost economics Economics Firms consider all costs involved in economic transactions, and aim to minimize costs and maximize benefits	RD17: Investigate how buying firms’ bounded rationality, environmental uncertainty and supplier opportunism may lead to high transaction costs associated with MS, and explore governance mechanisms firms may use to combat MS RD18: Investigate the effectiveness of audits in tackling MS in SCs across various industries and jurisdictions, and the risk of audit fraud and its antecedents and consequences in GSCs RD19: Analyze the economic rationale for adopting MS-free practices in SCs, and the commercial justification of MS-free initiatives in different industries RD20: Examine contractual deterrence and MS-free GSCs; how MNCs can structure contracts to deter the use of slave labor, and the moderating effect of institutions

Theory, discipline, key premise	Potential research directions (RDs) for MS
Environmental level
Institutional theorySociologyFirms are embedded in and influenced by institutional contexts within which they operate	RD1: Investigate and measure direct and indirect institutional pressures for MS-free SCs across different products, services and industries, and analyze the response of firms to these pressuresRD2: Analyze how institutional voids affect the adoption, implementation and monitoring of MS-free practices in GSCsRD3: Examine institutionalization of MS-free practices at different firm levels; investigate multilevel (micro–meso–macro) and micro-foundations (individual-level) of institutionalization of MS-free practices in MNCs and their SCsRD4: Explore institutional resistance or rejection of adopting MS-free practices in SCs; analyze antecedents and consequences of institutional resistance using case studies of SCs in different industries; and investigate the strategies MNCs may use in response to institutional pressures to tackle MS
Stakeholder theoryStrategic management/business ethicsFirms generate externalities that affect stakeholders who apply pressure on firms to minimize negative and maximize positive effects	RD5: Examine how pressures from different types of stakeholders with different salience attributes can catalyze the adoption of MS-free practices in SCsRD6: Investigate how firms can use stakeholder engagement and collaboration to address MS in GSCs in various industriesRD7: Apply international stakeholder theory to empirically analyze MNCs and their local and global stakeholders in GSCs; the relationships between the stakeholders, how they influence each other dependent on their salience, how they can exert pressure and prompt MNCs to adopt MS-free practices in GSCs and how they can help MNCs to tackle MS
Firm level
Resource-based viewEconomics/strategyFirms create competitive advantages by owning valuable and rare resources	RD8: Examine how firms can use MS reporting as an opportunity for organizational learning and make substantive changes to address MS and achieve competitive advantagesRD9: Empirically investigate how MNCs can gain competitive advantages from MS-free SCs through buyer–supplier collaborations and governance mechanisms such as supplier selection, monitoring and developmentRD10: Using the four NRBV resources, investigate how firms can achieve competitiveness from MS-free, and ecologically and societally sustainable operations. Explore firm competitiveness at the MS-environment–BoP nexus
Resource dependence theoryOrganizational studiesFirms are dependent on external parties for resources they need, and aim to reduce this dependence	RD11: Investigate the relationship between resource dependence and social sustainability performance of supply chains (i.e. supply chains free from MS); how MNCs’ resource dependence in SCs influences their ability to have MS-free SCs, and how MNCs could reduce their dependence on suppliers with high risks of MSRD12: Investigate SC creep, increasing dependencies, and changing power dynamics in SCs, and their impact on MS risks for focal firmsRD13: Analyze how new technologies such as blockchain may impact resource dependence dynamics in the SC, facilitate MS-free resource acquisition by MNCs and improve implementation and monitoring of MS-free practices in the SC
Principal agent theoryEconomicsAgency problems exist between principals and agents, necessitating contracts to align interests and prevent opportunistic behavior	RD14: Examine buyer–supplier agency problems in complex and multitiered GSCs, how they cause or enable MS to exist, and how these agency problems can be solved to address and eliminate MSRD15: Explore the double agency role of first-tier suppliers in combating MS and helping MNCs overcome the agency and institutional challenges associated with disseminating MS-free practices in GSCs, and how focal firms can incentivize their first-tier suppliersRD16: Scrutinize governance mechanisms to address agency problems that contribute to or facilitate the use of slave labor in SCs, and suggest the most effective governance mechanisms that MNCs can use to tackle MS
Transaction level
Transaction cost economicsEconomicsFirms consider all costs involved in economic transactions, and aim to minimize costs and maximize benefits	RD17: Investigate how buying firms’ bounded rationality, environmental uncertainty and supplier opportunism may lead to high transaction costs associated with MS, and explore governance mechanisms firms may use to combat MSRD18: Investigate the effectiveness of audits in tackling MS in SCs across various industries and jurisdictions, and the risk of audit fraud and its antecedents and consequences in GSCsRD19: Analyze the economic rationale for adopting MS-free practices in SCs, and the commercial justification of MS-free initiatives in different industriesRD20: Examine contractual deterrence and MS-free GSCs; how MNCs can structure contracts to deter the use of slave labor, and the moderating effect of institutions

Source: Author’s own work