IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jsusta/v13y2021i8p4313-d535115.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Complementarities between Operations and Occupational Health and Safety in Garments

Author

Listed:
  • Miguel Malek Maalouf

    (Department of Technology and Innovation, University of Southern Denmark, 5230 Odense, Denmark)

  • Peter Hasle

    (Department of Technology and Innovation, University of Southern Denmark, 5230 Odense, Denmark)

  • Jan Vang

    (Department of Technology and Innovation, University of Southern Denmark, 5230 Odense, Denmark)

  • Abu Hamja

    (Department of Materials and Production, Aalborg University, 2450 Copenhagen, Denmark)

Abstract

There is an ongoing debate in the extant literature regarding whether the relationship between occupational health and safety (OHS) and operational practices is contradictory or complementary. However, previous research has focused on companies situated in developed and highly industrialized countries. We contribute to the debate by investigating the relationship between OHS and operational practices in 50 selected garment factories in the context of a developing country (Bangladesh). We investigated OHS and operational practices in a developing country because the institutional context and the industrial tradition are different from those in developed countries, and these factors are very likely to influence how companies invest in enhancing work conditions and improving operational practices. Indeed, the main contribution of this study is that, in contrast to findings from developed countries, our results indicate that both the maturity levels of OHS and operational practices and the complementarity between them depended on plant size. In particular, large plants had higher levels of maturity and were more likely to perform well in both OHS and operational practices than small and medium plants. Based on these findings, we emphasize that, to enhance work conditions and remain competitive, small and medium companies must embrace multi-stakeholder initiatives involving international buyers, local government, and international labor. Organizations can contribute to building the capabilities of suppliers and balance the pressure of cost reduction with investment in OHS improvement.

Suggested Citation

  • Miguel Malek Maalouf & Peter Hasle & Jan Vang & Abu Hamja, 2021. "Complementarities between Operations and Occupational Health and Safety in Garments," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(8), pages 1-20, April.
  • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:13:y:2021:i:8:p:4313-:d:535115
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/13/8/4313/pdf
    Download Restriction: no

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/13/8/4313/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Hau L. Lee & Christopher S. Tang, 2018. "Socially and Environmentally Responsible Value Chain Innovations: New Operations Management Research Opportunities," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 64(3), pages 983-996, March.
    2. Yanhua Bird & Jodi L. Short & Michael W. Toffel, 2019. "Coupling Labor Codes of Conduct and Supplier Labor Practices: The Role of Internal Structural Conditions," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 30(4), pages 847-867, July.
    3. David I. Levine & Michael W. Toffel, 2010. "Quality Management and Job Quality: How the ISO 9001 Standard for Quality Management Systems Affects Employees and Employers," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 56(6), pages 978-996, June.
    4. Mark Pagell & David Johnston & Anthony Veltri & Robert Klassen & Markus Biehl, 2014. "Is Safe Production an Oxymoron?," Production and Operations Management, Production and Operations Management Society, vol. 23(7), pages 1161-1175, July.
    5. Ilya Okhmatovskiy & Robert J. David, 2012. "Setting Your Own Standards: Internal Corporate Governance Codes as a Response to Institutional Pressure," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 23(1), pages 155-176, February.
    6. Eitan Naveh & Miriam Erez, 2004. "Innovation and Attention to Detail in the Quality Improvement Paradigm," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 50(11), pages 1576-1586, November.
    7. Peter Hasle & Jan Vang, 2021. "Designing Better Interventions: Insights from Research on Decent Work," Journal of Supply Chain Management, Institute for Supply Management, vol. 57(2), pages 58-70, April.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Sotirios Kavouras & Ioannis Vardopoulos & Roido Mitoula & Antonis A. Zorpas & Panagiotis Kaldis, 2022. "Occupational Health and Safety Scope Significance in Achieving Sustainability," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(4), pages 1-17, February.
    2. MESHACK Siwandeti & LETICIA Mahuwi & BARAKA Israel, 2023. "HOW PUBLIC PROCUREMENT CAN HELP SOCIETIES ACHIEVE SDGs: A CONCEPTUAL MODEL," Management of Sustainable Development, Lucian Blaga University of Sibiu, Faculty of Economic Sciences, vol. 15(1), pages 36-46, June.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Jajja, Muhammad Shakeel Sadiq & Asif, Muhammad & Montabon, Frank & Chatha, Kamran Ali, 2020. "The indirect effect of social responsibility standards on organizational performance in apparel supply chains: A developing country perspective," Transportation Research Part E: Logistics and Transportation Review, Elsevier, vol. 139(C).
    2. Neda Trifković, 2016. "Private standards and labour productivity in the food sector in Vietnam," WIDER Working Paper Series wp-2016-163, World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER).
    3. Neda Trifkovic, 2016. "Private standards and labour productivity in the food sector in Vietnam," WIDER Working Paper Series 163, World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER).
    4. Clougherty, Joseph A. & Grajek, Michał, 2023. "Decertification in quality-management standards by incrementally and radically innovative organizations," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 52(1).
    5. Neda Trifković, 2018. "Certification and business risk," WIDER Working Paper Series wp-2018-80, World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER).
    6. Neda Trifkovic, 2018. "Certification and business risk," WIDER Working Paper Series 80, World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER).
    7. David Jancsics & Salvador Espinosa & Jonathan Carlos, 2023. "Organizational noncompliance: an interdisciplinary review of social and organizational factors," Management Review Quarterly, Springer, vol. 73(3), pages 1273-1301, September.
    8. Younès El Manzani & Mohamed Larbi Sidmou & Jean-Jack Cegarra, 2018. "Does IS0 9001 quality management system support product innovation? An analysis from the sociotechnical systems theory," Post-Print hal-03080217, HAL.
    9. Peter Hasle & Jan Vang, 2021. "Designing Better Interventions: Insights from Research on Decent Work," Journal of Supply Chain Management, Institute for Supply Management, vol. 57(2), pages 58-70, April.
    10. Ion IVAN & Cristian CIUREA & Mihai DOINEA & Arthur AVRAMIEA, 2012. "Collaborative Management of Risks and Complexity in Banking Systems," Informatica Economica, Academy of Economic Studies - Bucharest, Romania, vol. 16(2), pages 128-141.
    11. Gopesh Anand & John Gray & Enno Siemsen, 2012. "Decay, Shock, and Renewal: Operational Routines and Process Entropy in the Pharmaceutical Industry," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 23(6), pages 1700-1716, December.
    12. Xia, Jing & Zheng, Yan & Yang, Lehe & Xiao, Yujie, 2024. "Government intervention in green technology innovation: The carrot, the stick or both?," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 200(C).
    13. Christopher Marquis & Cuili Qian, 2014. "Corporate Social Responsibility Reporting in China: Symbol or Substance?," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 25(1), pages 127-148, February.
    14. Maria R. Ibanez & Michael W. Toffel, 2020. "How Scheduling Can Bias Quality Assessment: Evidence from Food-Safety Inspections," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 66(6), pages 2396-2416, June.
    15. Susan A. Kayser & John W. Maxwell & Michael W. Toffel, 2014. "Supply chain screening without certification: The critical role of stakeholder pressure," Working Papers 2014-08, Indiana University, Kelley School of Business, Department of Business Economics and Public Policy.
    16. Joseph Lanfranchi & Sanja Pekovic, 2012. "How Green is my Firm? Workers' Attitudes towards Job, Job Involvement and Effort in Environmentally-Related Firms," Working Papers halshs-00976341, HAL.
    17. Li Chen & Hau L. Lee & Christopher S. Tang, 2022. "Supply chain fairness," Production and Operations Management, Production and Operations Management Society, vol. 31(12), pages 4304-4318, December.
    18. Victor Manuel Bennett, 2013. "Organization and Bargaining: Sales Process Choice at Auto Dealerships," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 59(9), pages 2003-2018, September.
    19. Saravanan Kesavan & Susan J. Lambert & Joan C. Williams & Pradeep K. Pendem, 2022. "Doing Well by Doing Good: Improving Retail Store Performance with Responsible Scheduling Practices at the Gap, Inc," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 68(11), pages 7818-7836, November.
    20. Xiangyu Chang & Yinghui Huang & Mei Li & Xin Bo & Subodha Kumar, 2021. "Efficient Detection of Environmental Violators: A Big Data Approach," Production and Operations Management, Production and Operations Management Society, vol. 30(5), pages 1246-1270, May.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:13:y:2021:i:8:p:4313-:d:535115. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.