Corporate Social Responsibility and Human Rights in International Business: A Systematic Literature Review

Abstract

Studies on human rights and Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) generally appeared in the academic literature corresponding to labour rights and employment related issues from mid-1980s. The discussion has developed from workplace discrimination to sweatshop and child labour dispute during 1990s, further reaching 'Guiding Principles for Business and Human Rights' by the United Nations Human Rights Council which has evoked the need of institutionalized principles for human rights on CSR. This extension of debate for human rights on CSR has aroused a question: how to strengthen the conceptualization of CSR to protect human rights. Several scholarly efforts have been made to examine what factors drive Multinational Enterprises (MNEs) to participate in CSR dealing with human rights. However, relatively less attention has been given to human rights within CSR. Hence, the aim of this thesis is to (1) review the existing literature on the link between human rights and CSR; (2) synthesize and integrate the extant literature, and; (3) suggest future research directions for scholars on human rights within CSR.

Date of Award	31 Dec 2016
Original language	English
Awarding Institution	The University of Manchester
Supervisor	Rudolf R. Sinkovics (Supervisor) & Noemi Sinkovics (Supervisor)