Course Name: Applied Accounting Theory

Course Code: 5103

Assignment-4
On
Corporate Human Rights Performance and Moral Power

Submitted to:
Shah Md. Taha Islam
Lecturer
Department of Accounting and Information Systems
Jahangirnagar University

Submitted by:
Md. Mahmud Hasan Bhuiyan
ID-1419, 5th Batch
Department of Accounting and Information Systems

Date of Submission: 20th January, 2021

Question 1(a): What are the choices made by the authors in relation to theory/conceptual
framework? Explain

Answer: The choices made by the authors in relation to theory/conceptual framework are given
below:

Firstly, in this article they use moral power as a theoretical construct to explain how corporate
managers affect human rights performance within the global supply chains. Moral power, a
notion in line with Aristotle‟s view of the moral actor, focuses on the extent to which an actor, or
an organization, has the power to persuade others to adopt a particular belief or practice (Mehta
& Winship, 2010). A moral actor may commit to the common good including fundamental
human rights. Moral power comprises three essential components: moral intention, moral
capability, and moral standing (Mehta & Winship, 2010).

Secondly, in this study they use the notion of moral power (Mehta & Winship, 2010) and the
moral actor to understand how human rights performance within the global supply chain is
related to the moral power of MNCs and their suppliers operating in a developing nation.

Thirdly, this article seeks, to explain what MNCs say about human rights performance within
their supply chain operations in Bangladesh and how labor rights NGOs‟ counter-narratives
challenge the claims made by MNCs and their suppliers with respect to the moral power
exercised with respect to human right.
b. Are the research questions/hypotheses consistent with the applied theory? Explain.

Answer: Answer: The paper is focused on determining different aspects of the notion of moral
power to evaluate the human rights performance by MNCs and their suppliers. The authors
addressed two research questions in the paper.

 How public statements made by MNCs and their suppliers in Bangladesh compare with
actions taken in factories in relation to particular human rights issues;
 How to evaluate MNCs’ and their suppliers’ human rights activities in Bangladeshi
supply factories.

To address these questions the application of the notion of moral power is quite consistent. The
notion of moral power here analyzed with three essential aspects of moral power – moral
intention, moral capability and moral standing. The aspects provided insight into the actual
human rights performance and the public statements as published by the MNCs and their supply
chains in developing nations.

The research hypotheses are made based on the Aristotle views on moral actor that was the main
focus point among all the theories explained in the paper. The idea was linked up with the
normative institutional logic of moral legitimacy. The following shows the process of the
development of the research hypotheses from the applied theory:

𝑯𝟏: Moral actor performs a moral act without coercion and avoiding self-interest.

𝑯𝟐: The moral power of the particular actor making the claim is imperative in determining the
outcome.

The above showed how the authors developed hypotheses from the applied theory. The
researchers have found that labor rights NGOs’ counter-narratives relating to MNCs’ human
rights performance challenge the moral power of MNCs in relation to their workplace human
rights performance, as reflected in both their own discourse and their reporting media.
C. Could there be alternative theories and hypotheses/research questions? Critically
explain.
Answer: In this paper, the main focus was centered around the Aristotle view’s on moral actor.
Actions of the two broad performing stakeholder groups (labor union and human rights NGOs)
are explained under the counter action of the activities performed by the MNCs and their
sources. Under the Social movement theory (SM theory), we know that human rights disclosure
increases when community concern spreads (see Islam & Deegan, 2008). Despite this, it is far
from clear that such disclosures reflect human rights performance or moral standing as perceived
by stakeholders (including less powerful ones, such as worker representatives). To be legitimate,
the MNCs are produced enough human rights related disclosures to comply with the resolution
of the International Labor Organization (ILO) and other regulatory commitment (Islam and
McPhail, 2011).

From the beginning, we saw that the role of institution in governing the MNCs is biased by the
powerful action played by the MNCs. The regulatory body has provided freedom to some extent
to decide the corporate governance in the area of human rights. Corporations do whatever that is
under the favor of it.

If the institution plays powerful role to control the action in the area of human rights, the
workplace inhuman activities and labor rights violation can be reduced in the developing
countries like Bangladesh. So, the activities performed by the suppliers of the MNCs can be
examined under the institutional theory.

Institutional theorists assert that the institutional environment can strongly influence the
development of formal structures in an organization, often more profoundly than market
pressures. it is often used to explain the adoption and spread of formal organizational structures,
including written policies, standard practices, and new forms of organization. Hence, the
research hypotheses can be as follows:

𝐻1: There is no difference in moral intention of the organization in human rights at proper
instructional context between developing and developed country.
𝐻2: There is no difference in moral capability of the organization in human rights at proper
instructional context between developing and developed country.

𝐻3: There is no difference in moral standings of the organization in human rights at proper
instructional context between developing and developed country.
References:
Islam, M. A., & McPhail, K. (2011). Regulating for corporate human rights abuses: The
emergence hhhhof corporate reporting on the ILO’s human rights standards within the global
garment hhhhfmanufacturing and retail industry. Critical Perspectives on Accounting, 22(8),
790– 810

Mehta, J., & Winship, C. (2010). Moral power. In S. Hitlin & S. Vaisey (Eds.), Handbook of the
y66yysociology of morality (pp. 425–438). New York: Springer