Child slavery in supply chains: Actors of the dirty scene

Lotfi, Maryam ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1261-9834 and Pisa, Noleen 2024. Child slavery in supply chains: Actors of the dirty scene. Journal of Transport and Supply Chain Management 18 , a942. 10.4102/jtscm.v18i0.942

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Abstract

Background: Child slavery in global supply chains is a complex problem because it involves various supply chain actors, including corporations, at different tiers, and external organisations and society. Many corporate sustainability on child labour, present a unilateral perspective which renders the development of child labour measures under the leadership of many companies tardy and inefficient. Objectives: This study conducted a comprehensive investigation into child slavery in supply chains to identify the key actors that can combat child slavery in the supply chain. Method: Thematic analysis of peer-reviewed journal articles, containing the keywords; child labour; supply chain, and child slavery; used interchangeably, based on three inclusion criteria; high frequency of relevant keywords; recent publication period; and high number of citations, was conducted. Results: Four main actors and their influence on child slavery were identified namely i.). Corporations - through industrial characteristics, strategy, corporate social responsibility obligations, and internal stakeholders; ii.). Governments – through regulations, policies, and intentions to combat child slavery; iii.). Societies - through the establishment of social benchmarks and social accountability frameworks to address the social crisis; and iv.). External organisations - such as ILO, NGOs and trade unions as the dominant actors in combatting the child slavery phenomena in supply chains. Conclusion: The findings provide a nascent conceptual model for empirical work and a foundation for descriptive and normative research on child slavery in supply chains. Contribution: The study’s contribution is the assessment of the child slavery phenomenon using a multi-stakeholder perspective to gain a better understanding of the dynamics associated with child slavery.

Item Type:	Article
Date Type:	Publication
Status:	Published
Schools:	Business (Including Economics)
Subjects:	H Social Sciences > H Social Sciences (General)
Publisher:	AOSIS
ISSN:	2310-8789
Date of First Compliant Deposit:	23 October 2023
Date of Acceptance:	1 September 2023
Last Modified:	10 Jan 2024 15:02
URI:	https://orca.cardiff.ac.uk/id/eprint/163131

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