Multiple institutional logics in union–NGO relations: private labor regulation in the Swedish Clean Clothes Campaign

• Date: 01 October 2015
• Author: Peter Hyllman,Niklas Egels‐Zandén,Kajsa Lindberg
• Published date: 01 October 2015
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1111/beer.12091

Multiple institutional logics in

union–NGO relations: private

labor regulation in the Swedish

Clean Clothes Campaign

Niklas Egels-Zandén1, Kajsa Lindberg1and

Peter Hyllman2

1. Department of Business Administration, School of Business, Economics and Law, University of Gothenburg,

Gothenburg, Sweden

2. Söndagsvägen 60, 86334, Sundsbruk, Sweden

Conflicts between labor unions and nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) often impede private labor

regulatory attempts to protect worker rights at supplier factories. Based on a study of a failed private

regulatory attempt for Swedish garment retailers, we contribute to existing research into union–NGO

relations by demonstrating how conflict arises because unions and NGOs act upon different institutional

logics. We also contribute to the institutional logics perspective by challenging the current emphasis on either

coexistence or conflict among multiple logics, and showing the heterogeneity in how multiple logics manifest

on a local level, how this could shift over time, and suggesting an empirically derived typology of manifes-

tations of multiple logics.

Introduction

Following the off-shoring and outsourcing of pro-

duction from Europe and the USA, worker rights

representatives have forced companies to assume

responsibility for working conditions at the point of

production, contributing to the emergence of worker

rights regulatory systems in the private sphere (e.g.

Fitjar 2011; Graafland & Zhang 2014). A central com-

ponent of these private regulatory systems is the rela-

tionship between labor unions, acting as leading

protectors of traditional public regulation, and human

rights nongovernmental organizations (NGOs), acting

as the driving forces of private regulation.

Scholars stress that unions and NGOs share what

McPherson & Sauder (2013) call ‘basis of mission’,

as they both strive to protect worker rights (e.g.

Frundt 1999; Ross 2006), and strongly argue that

cooperative union–NGO relationships are central to

balancing the influence of transnational corpora-

tions (TNCs) in global value chains (e.g. Braun &

Gearhart 2004; Ford 2006; Coe & Hess 2013).

Despite the importance of cooperation, and

examples cited in previous research of such coopera-

tion (e.g. Ross 2006; Ford 2009; Kryst 2012), union–

NGO relationships are often rife with conflict (e.g.

Frundt 1999; Traub-Werner & Cravey 2002; Justice

2003; Anner & Evans 2004; Riisgaard 2009).

To understand both the rise and impact of private

regulatory systems, it is crucial to explore union–

NGO relations. Still, scholars have largely neglected

these relations, at least in relation to worker rights

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Business Ethics: A European Review

Volume 24 Number 4 October 2015

© 2015 John Wiley & Sons Ltd, 9600 Garsington Road,

Oxford OX4 2DQ, UK and 350 Main St, Malden, MA 02148, USA

doi: 10.1111/beer.12091

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