Social sustainability in developing country suppliers

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to investigate why developing country suppliers are adopting socially sustainable practices and how the implementation process is both impeded and enabled. Design/methodology/approach – A multi-case study approach is adopted based on four ready made garment (RMG) industry suppliers in Bangladesh and the Bangladeshi buying houses of two large UK retailers. The primary mode of data collection is exploratory face-to-face interviews with 14 senior representatives. Findings are later interpreted using the transaction cost economics (TCE) theory lens. Findings – One factor motivating implementation is labour retention – a skilled labour shortage means employees will migrate to other factories if suppliers do not improve certain social standards. Barriers to implementation include a misalignment between…