CONTEMPORARY SLAVERY IN BRAZIL: WHAT HAVE COMPANIES (NOT) DONE TO PREVENT IT?

ABSTRACT

Purpose:

Identify the practices adopted by companies to monitor and prevent contemporary slavery and the elements that differentiate companies that adopt monitoring practices for prevention of slavery and those that do not.

Originality/value:

This question is investigated from the perspective of management, reputation and institutional environment literature, pointing out the reasons that lead companies to adopt or avoid contemporary slavery.

Design/methodology/approach:

We used secondary data from Melhores Empresas para Você Trabalhar [Best Companies to Work] 2014 on 305 companies, which filled a questionnaire about their management practices and policies to monitor the working conditions in the supply chain in relation to the use of slave labor.

Findings:

Results show that the practice adopted by most companies is related to sanctions on contracted suppliers who are caught using slave labor, and the element that differentiates groups of companies that adopt monitoring practices from those that do not is the fact of whether they are or not signatories of the National Pact to Eradicate Slave Labor [Pacto Nacional pela Erradicação do Trabalho Escravo].

KEYWORDS:
Contemporary slavery; Management practices; Corporate reputation; Institutional environment; Slave labor