IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/kap/jbuset/v144y2017i1d10.1007_s10551-015-2812-0.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Civil Governance in Work and Employment Relations: How Civil Society Organizations Contribute to Systems of Labour Governance

Author

Listed:
  • Steve Williams

    (University of Portsmouth)

  • Brian Abbott

    (Kingston University)

  • Edmund Heery

    (Cardiff University)

Abstract

Civil society organizations (CSOs) attempt to induce corporations to behave in more socially responsible ways, with a view to raising labour standards. A broader way of conceptualizing their efforts to influence the policies and practices of employers is desirable, one centred upon the concept of civil governance. This recognizes that CSOs not only attempt to shape the behaviour of employers through the forging of direct, collaborative relationships, but also try to do so indirectly, with interactions of various kinds with the state being integral. Drawing on evidence derived from UK-based CSOs involved in work and employment relations, four types of civil governance are identified and characterized. By elaborating the concept of civil governance, and demonstrating how different types of civil governance operate, the research extends our knowledge and understanding of how CSOs, as increasingly prominent actors in the field of work and employment relations, operate within, and contribute to, systems of labour governance.

Suggested Citation

  • Steve Williams & Brian Abbott & Edmund Heery, 2017. "Civil Governance in Work and Employment Relations: How Civil Society Organizations Contribute to Systems of Labour Governance," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 144(1), pages 103-119, August.
    • Handle: RePEc:kap:jbuset:v:144:y:2017:i:1:d:10.1007_s10551-015-2812-0
    DOI: 10.1007/s10551-015-2812-0
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s10551-015-2812-0
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1007/s10551-015-2812-0?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Sander Chan & Philipp Pattberg, 2008. "Private Rule-Making and the Politics of Accountability: Analyzing Global Forest Governance," Global Environmental Politics, MIT Press, vol. 8(3), pages 103-121, August.
    2. Edmund Heery & Brian Abbott & Stephen Williams, 2012. "The Involvement of Civil Society Organizations in British Industrial Relations: Extent, Origins and Significance," British Journal of Industrial Relations, London School of Economics, vol. 50(1), pages 47-72, March.
    3. Hutter, Bridget M., 2006. "The role of non-state actors in regulation," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 36118, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    4. John Braithwaite, 2008. "Regulatory Capitalism," Books, Edward Elgar Publishing, number 12541.
    5. Jeff Everett & Dean Neu & Daniel Martinez, 2008. "Multi-Stakeholder Labour Monitoring Organizations: Egoists, Instrumentalists, or Moralists?," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 81(1), pages 117-142, August.
    6. Edmund Heery & Carola Frege, 2006. "New Actors in Industrial Relations," British Journal of Industrial Relations, London School of Economics, vol. 44(4), pages 601-604, December.
    7. Veronika Kneip, 2013. "Protest Campaigns and Corporations: Cooperative Conflicts?," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 118(1), pages 189-202, November.
    8. Jon Burchell & Joanne Cook, 2013. "CSR, Co-optation and Resistance: The Emergence of New Agonistic Relations Between Business and Civil Society," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 115(4), pages 741-754, July.
    9. Tim Bartley, 2003. "Certifying Forests and Factories: States, Social Movements, and the Rise of Private Regulation in the Apparel and Forest Products Fields," Politics & Society, , vol. 31(3), pages 433-464, September.
    10. Andreas Georg Scherer & Guido Palazzo, 2011. "The New Political Role of Business in a Globalized World: A Review of a New Perspective on CSR and its Implications for the Firm, Governance, and Democracy," Journal of Management Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 48(4), pages 899-931, June.
    11. Daniel Arenas & Pablo Sanchez & Matthew Murphy, 2013. "Different Paths to Collaboration Between Businesses and Civil Society and the Role of Third Parties," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 115(4), pages 723-739, July.
    12. ., 2008. "Is Regulatory Capitalism a Good Thing?," Chapters, in: Regulatory Capitalism, chapter 8, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    13. Luc Fransen & Brian Burgoon, 2012. "A market for worker rights: Explaining business support for international private labour regulation," Review of International Political Economy, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 19(2), pages 236-266.
    14. Dorothea Baur & Hans Schmitz, 2012. "Corporations and NGOs: When Accountability Leads to Co-optation," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 106(1), pages 9-21, March.
    15. ., 2008. "Neoliberalism or Regulatory Capitalism?," Chapters, in: Regulatory Capitalism, chapter 1, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    16. Reinhard Steurer, 2013. "Disentangling governance: a synoptic view of regulation by government, business and civil society," Policy Sciences, Springer;Society of Policy Sciences, vol. 46(4), pages 387-410, December.
    17. Peter Newell, 2008. "Civil Society, Corporate Accountability and the Politics of Climate Change," Global Environmental Politics, MIT Press, vol. 8(3), pages 122-153, August.
    18. Wayne Norman, 2011. "Business Ethics as Self-Regulation: Why Principles that Ground Regulations Should Be Used to Ground Beyond-Compliance Norms as Well," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 102(1), pages 43-57, March.
    19. Jette Knudsen, 2013. "The Growth of Private Regulation of Labor Standards in Global Supply Chains: Mission Impossible for Western Small- and Medium-Sized Firms?," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 117(2), pages 387-398, October.
    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. Stephen Mustchin & Mathew Johnson & Marti Lopez‐Andreu, 2023. "Civil society organisations in and against the state: Advice, advocacy and activism on the margins of the labour market," Industrial Relations Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 54(2), pages 117-131, March.
    2. Eva Herman & Jill Rubery & Gail Hebson, 2021. "A case of employers never letting a good crisis go to waste? An investigation of how work becomes even more precarious for hourly paid workers under Covid," Industrial Relations Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 52(5), pages 442-457, September.
    3. Tony Dobbins & Peter Prowse, 2024. "Moral Economy and the Ethics of the Real Living Wage in UK Football Clubs," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 195(2), pages 299-314, November.
    4. Stephanie Schrage & Dirk Ulrich Gilbert, 2021. "Addressing Governance Gaps in Global Value Chains: Introducing a Systematic Typology," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 170(4), pages 657-672, May.
    5. Brookes Brown, 2019. "Beyond Profit and Politics: Reciprocity and the Role of For-Profit Business," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 159(1), pages 239-251, September.
    6. Deborah Foster & Mart Masso & Liina Osila, 2021. "Work accommodations and sustainable working: The role of social partners and industrial relations in the employment of disabled and older people in Estonia, Hungary and Poland," European Journal of Industrial Relations, , vol. 27(2), pages 149-165, June.
    7. Gregor Murray & Christian Lévesque & Glenn Morgan & Nicolas Roby, 2020. "Disruption and re-regulation in work and employment: from organisational to institutional experimentation," Transfer: European Review of Labour and Research, , vol. 26(2), pages 135-156, May.

    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. Ivan Bozhikin & Nikolay Dentchev, 2018. "Discovering a Wilderness of Regulatory Mechanisms for Corporate Social Responsibility: Literature Review," Economic Alternatives, University of National and World Economy, Sofia, Bulgaria, issue 2, pages 145-174, June.
    2. Andreas Rasche & Frank Bakker & Jeremy Moon, 2013. "Complete and Partial Organizing for Corporate Social Responsibility," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 115(4), pages 651-663, July.
    3. David Monciardini & Guido Conaldi, 2019. "The European regulation of corporate social responsibility: The role of beneficiaries' intermediaries," Regulation & Governance, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 13(2), pages 240-259, June.
    4. Alice Klettner & Thomas Clarke & Martijn Boersma, 2016. "Strategic and Regulatory Approaches to Increasing Women in Leadership: Multilevel Targets and Mandatory Quotas as Levers for Cultural Change," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 133(3), pages 395-419, February.
    5. Kate Grosser & Jeremy Moon, 2019. "CSR and Feminist Organization Studies: Towards an Integrated Theorization for the Analysis of Gender Issues," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 155(2), pages 321-342, March.
    6. Abraham Singer, 2018. "Justice Failure: Efficiency and Equality in Business Ethics," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 149(1), pages 97-115, April.
    7. Dirk C. Moosmayer & Yanyan Chen & Susannah M. Davis, 2019. "Deeds Not Words: A Cosmopolitan Perspective on the Influences of Corporate Sustainability and NGO Engagement on the Adoption of Sustainable Products in China," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 158(1), pages 135-154, August.
    8. Helen Wadham & Cathy Urquhart & Richard Warren, 2019. "Living with Paradox in International Development: An Extended Case Study of an International NGO," The European Journal of Development Research, Palgrave Macmillan;European Association of Development Research and Training Institutes (EADI), vol. 31(5), pages 1263-1286, December.
    9. Dirk C. Moosmayer & Susannah M. Davis, 2016. "Staking Cosmopolitan Claims: How Firms and NGOs Talk About Supply Chain Responsibility," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 135(3), pages 403-417, May.
    10. Vikrant Shirodkar & Eshani Beddewela & Ulf Henning Richter, 2018. "Firm-Level Determinants of Political CSR in Emerging Economies: Evidence from India," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 148(3), pages 673-688, March.
    11. Maddy Janssens & Chris Steyaert, 2012. "Towards an Ethical Research Agenda for International HRM: The Possibilities of a Plural Cosmopolitan Framework," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 111(1), pages 61-72, November.
    12. Anne M. Quarshie & Rudolf Leuschner, 2018. "Cross-Sector Social Interactions and Systemic Change in Disaster Response: A Qualitative Study," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 150(2), pages 357-384, June.
    13. Som Sekhar Bhattacharyya & Sumi Jha, 2020. "Explicating micro foundations of corporate social responsibility: a moderated-mediation study of customer, investor and employee roles," International Journal of Ethics and Systems, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 36(4), pages 619-640, September.
    14. Anselm Schneider & Christopher Wickert & Emilio Marti, 2017. "Reducing Complexity by Creating Complexity: A Systems Theory Perspective on How Organizations Respond to Their Environments," Journal of Management Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 54(2), pages 182-208, March.
    15. Pablo Rodrigo & Ignacio J. Duran, 2021. "Why Does Context Really Matter? Understanding Companies’ Dialogue with Fringe Communities," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(2), pages 1-26, January.
    16. Verena Girschik, 2020. "Managing Legitimacy in Business‐Driven Social Change: The Role of Relational Work," Journal of Management Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 57(4), pages 775-804, June.
    17. Luc Fransen & Brian Burgoon & Sijeong Lim & Aseem Prakash, 2017. "From Quality Control to Labor Protection: ISO 9001 and Workplace Safety, 1993–2012," Global Policy, London School of Economics and Political Science, vol. 8, pages 66-77, May.
    18. Benjamin Cashore & Jette Steen Knudsen & Jeremy Moon & Hamish van der Ven, 2021. "Private authority and public policy interactions in global context: Governance spheres for problem solving," Regulation & Governance, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 15(4), pages 1166-1182, October.
    19. Aurélien Acquier & Bertrand Valiorgue & Thibault Daudigeos, 2017. "Sharing the Shared Value: A Transaction Cost Perspective on Strategic CSR Policies in Global Value Chains," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 144(1), pages 139-152, August.
    20. Richters, Oliver & Siemoneit, Andreas, 2017. "How imperative are the Joneses? Economic growth between individual desire and social coercion," VÖÖ Discussion Papers 4/2017, Vereinigung für Ökologische Ökonomie e.V. (VÖÖ).

    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:kap:jbuset:v:144:y:2017:i:1:d:10.1007_s10551-015-2812-0. 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: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.springer.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.