Purpose

Modern slavery is a humanitarian problem that affects global supply chains. Given the increasing pressures from legislature, consumers and investors, firms have a growing interest in eliminating forced labor and modern slavery from their supply chains. However, the impact of modern slavery on firm performance has not been shown before. This paper aims to investigate the impact of modern slavery allegations on companies’ operational performance. It also looks at the role of corporate social responsibility (CSR) efforts with respect to modern slavery.

Design/methodology/approach

The authors collect news articles on modern slavery in the global supply chains. The authors use an event study and use a robust matching method to measure the operational impact of modern slavery allegations. The authors also analyze the effects of media coverage and CSR practices on the relationship between allegations and firm performance.

Findings

The results show that modern slavery allegations do have a negative impact on performance, but this impact does not last long. The authors also show that strong CSR practices help firms mitigate the negative effect of these allegations.

Research limitations/implications

Because the issue is hidden, as a result limited data, the research results may lack generalizability. Therefore, researchers are encouraged to retest the proposed propositions in the future.

Practical implications

The paper includes implications for the development of socially responsible supply chains and financial impact.

Originality/value

This paper presents the first empirical research investigating the impact of modern slavery allegations on companies’ operational performance.

中文翻译：

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现代奴役指控对经营业绩的影响

目的

现代奴隶制是一个影响全球供应链的人道主义问题。鉴于来自立法机关、消费者和投资者的压力越来越大，企业对消除供应链中的强迫劳动和现代奴隶制越来越感兴趣。然而，现代奴隶制对企业绩效的影响以前从未显示过。本文旨在调查现代奴役指控对公司经营业绩的影响。它还着眼于企业社会责任 (CSR) 努力在现代奴隶制方面的作用。

设计/方法/方法

作者收集有关全球供应链中现代奴隶制的新闻文章。作者使用事件研究并使用稳健的匹配方法来衡量现代奴隶制指控的操作影响。作者还分析了媒体报道和企业社会责任实践对指控与公司业绩之间关系的影响。

发现

结果表明，现代奴隶制指控确实对绩效产生了负面影响，但这种影响不会持续很长时间。作者还表明，强有力的企业社会责任实践有助于公司减轻这些指控的负面影响。

研究限制/影响

由于问题隐蔽，数据有限，研究结果可能缺乏普遍性。因此，鼓励研究人员在未来重新测试提出的命题。

实际影响

该文件包括对发展具有社会责任感的供应链和财务影响的影响。

原创性/价值

本文介绍了第一个实证研究，调查现代奴隶制指控对公司运营绩效的影响。