Purpose

The purpose of this study is to provide new insight into the modern slavery threat and to enhance its detection in supply chains by understanding and addressing barriers to whistleblowing. A broad definition of a whistle-blower is adopted, which includes any witness internal or external to an organisation.

Design/methodology/approach

This is a viewpoint paper that includes using news reports and other secondary data sources on a recent modern slavery scandal in garment factories in Leicester, UK and the lens of the bystander effect from the social psychology literature. The core focus is on whistleblowing by members of the local community in which an operation or supply chain is embedded.

Findings

The phenomenon of modern slavery being an “open secret” within the local community is highlighted. But rather than the case being characterised by widespread whistleblowing, the problem only came into full focus when poor working conditions and forced labour during COVID-19 lockdown restrictions contributed to the spread of the virus. It is argued that overcoming this “bystander effect” can lead to the greater mobilisation of modern slavery whistleblowing.

Research limitations/implications

Two sets of propositions and a conceptual model are provided and seven future research suggestions are outlined, including extending the present study to whistleblowing by victims and other internal members of an organisation or supply chain.

Practical implications

If it can be mobilised, then whistleblowing has the potential to be an important part of detecting modern slavery, either temporarily replacing audits where they are not possible due to social distancing restrictions or directing the use of limited auditing resources to high-risk factories. In this way, combinations of practices can be effectively used to tackle the threat.

Social implications

This contributes to addressing an important societal problem and one of the grandest challenges facing modern-day supply chains. This, it has been argued, is an even bigger problem now than ever before given the economic and market conditions created by the COVID-19 global pandemic.

Originality/value

This is the first paper to focus on operationalising the practice of whistleblowing as a source of greater supply chain intelligence to aid modern slavery detection. Causes of the bystander effect include the perceived low-emergency threat of modern slavery, the high-ambiguity environment, a low bystander responsibility and low assistance/intervention incentive. Countermeasures include elevating the emergency status of modern slavery, creating a shared sense of responsibility for tackling the problem, having clear reporting channels and taking swift and consistent action when instances of modern slavery are detected.

中文翻译：

---

隐藏在显眼的地方：旁观者效应与现代奴隶制举报的动员

目的

本研究的目的是提供对现代奴隶制威胁的新见解，并通过了解和解决举报障碍来加强其在供应链中的检测。采用了对举报人的广泛定义，其中包括组织内部或外部的任何证人。

设计/方法/方法

这是一篇观点论文，其中包括使用关于英国莱斯特服装厂最近发生的现代奴隶制丑闻的新闻报道和其他二手数据来源，以及社会心理学文献中旁观者效应的镜头。核心重点是由运营或供应链所在的当地社区成员进行举报。

发现

现代奴隶制在当地社区中是“公开的秘密”的现象得到了强调。但是，该案的特点并不是广泛的举报，而是只有在 COVID-19 锁定限制期间恶劣的工作条件和强迫劳动导致病毒传播时，问题才得到充分关注。有人认为，克服这种“旁观者效应”可以导致更大程度地动员现代奴隶制举报。

研究限制/影响

提供了两组命题和一个概念模型，并概述了七个未来的研究建议，包括将本研究扩展到受害者和组织或供应链的其他内部成员的举报。

实际影响

如果可以动员起来，那么举报有可能成为发现现代奴隶制的重要组成部分，要么暂时取代由于社会疏远限制而无法进行的审计，要么将有限的审计资源用于高风险工厂。通过这种方式，可以有效地使用实践组合来应对威胁。

社会影响

这有助于解决一个重要的社会问题，也是现代供应链面临的最大挑战之一。有人认为，鉴于 COVID-19 全球大流行造成的经济和市场条件，现在这是一个比以往任何时候都更大的问题。

原创性/价值

这是第一篇专注于将举报实践作为更大供应链情报来源以帮助现代奴隶制检测的实践的论文。旁观者效应的原因包括现代奴隶制的低紧急威胁、高度模糊的环境、低旁观者责任和低援助/干预动机。对策包括提高现代奴隶制的紧急状态，建立解决问题的共同责任感，建立明确的报告渠道，并在发现现代奴隶制事件时采取迅速和一致的行动。