Data sharing practices between governments and the private sector are characterized by a lack of transparency which has potential implications for human rights. Minimal scholarship exists investigating how companies address human rights risks stemming from government requests for user data. Understanding corporate response processes to government requests is central to advancing human rights research at the intersection of tech company conduct. This becomes even more pressing as emerging technologies gather increasing amounts of data. Scholarship demonstrates that transparency reporting cannot assist in analyzing data sharing practices between the private and the public sectors due to a variety of constraints. Using semi-structured interviews with senior staff at technology companies, this paper presents an empirical analysis of how technology company representatives and external advisors seek to align their processes when responding to government requests for user data. It describes a set of six themes using human rights terminology which company representatives aim to employ when responding to requests.

Zusammenfassung Dieser Artikel skizziert die aktuelle politische Debatte zu Menschenrechten in der digitalisierten Wirtschaft. Er stellt aktuelle Herausforderungen, sowie einige Ansätze für diesbezüglich fortschrittliche Geschäftspraktiken vor, welche die Auswirkungen von datenbasierten wirtschaftlichen Aktivitäten auf die Menschenrechte adressieren können. Ein Business and Human Rights Ansatz kann hilfreich sein, um Menschenrechte in die tägliche Managementpraxis von datengetriebenen Unternehmen zu integrieren. Jedoch wird für die Ebene strukturell-bedingter gesellschaftlicher Auswirkungen der Datenwirtschaft ein zusätzliches Analyseraster benötigt – konzeptualisiert durch die integrative Wirtschaftsethik.

Responsible business conduct (RBC)—the corporate activities and initiatives that proactively address corporate involvement in human rights, environmental, and governance threats—has become an increasingly used means to counteract and prevent adverse effects of global businesses. Unlike other business sectors whose adverse impacts and RBC efforts (or lack thereof) are well documented, a comprehensive understanding of the state of commodity trading (CT), has been missing. In response, this paper uses a multidisciplinary literature review to provide an integrative understanding of the current state of research on the relationship between CT and RBC. Based on a review of 131 articles, we advance a granular understanding of the current and prospective role of commodity traders in RBC by grouping extant research into three overarching themes: (1) industry self-regulation and co-regulatory initiatives, (2) government-led regulatory initiatives and policy responses, and (3) company-level management strategies impacting RBC practices. In addition to illustrating the themes through existing research and identifying gaps along the overarching themes, we use our literature review to suggest avenues for future research. The paper’s overarching contribution is, first, to synthesize previously fragmented findings into a coherent framework of CT and RBC. And second, to offer guidance on how scholarship in this important domain can be developed into a more mature, legitimate and practical stream of research.

Data-driven technologies have come to pervade almost every aspect of business life, extending to employee monitoring and algorithmic management. How can employee privacy be protected in the age of datafication? This article surveys the potential and shortcomings of a number of legal and technical solutions to show the advantages of human rights-based approaches in addressing corporate responsibility to respect privacy and strengthen human agency. Based on this notion, we develop a process-oriented model of Privacy Due Diligence to complement existing frameworks for safeguarding employee privacy in an era of Big Data surveillance.

The use of digital technologies for workplace monitoring renders organizational responsibilities murky and opaque. However, clear responsibility for monitoring practices is key for both legal compliance and potential liability, as well as for ethical managerial practice to uphold the respect for human rights, in particular employee privacy. This article argues that responsibility for the use of people analytics tools in the work context should remain primarily with the employer as the operator of AI solutions and should be anchored in strong human oversight. The employer should carry out due diligence regarding the potential adverse impacts arising from workplace monitoring.

The goal of this article is to develop an empirically grounded framework to analyze how new technologies, particularly those used in the realm of datafication, alter or expand traditional organizational control configurations. Datafication technologies for employee-related data-gathering, analysis, interpretation, and learning are increasingly applied in the workplace. Yet there remains a lack of detailed insight regarding the effects of these technologies on traditional control. To convey a better understanding of such datafication technologies in employee management and control, we used a three-step, exploratory, multi-method morphological analysis. In step 1, we developed a framework based on 26 semi-structured interviews with technological experts. In step 2, we refined and redefined the framework in [...] and redefined the framework in four workshops with scholars specializing in topics that emerged in step 1. In step 3, we evaluated and validated the framework using potential and actual users of datafication technology controls. As a result, our refined and validated "Datafication Technology Control Configuration" (DTCC) framework comprises 11 technology control dimensions and 36 technology control elements, offering the first insights into how datafication technologies can change our understanding of traditional control configurations.

This chapter discusses the ethical implications of influencer marketing from two perspectives, combining two distinct lenses of analysis that can be subsumed under business ethics. In a first step, we establish why influencer marketing is relevant to business ethics: we give a brief introduction to business ethics, and further turn to marketing and advertising as an object of reflection in business ethics. In a second step, we reflect critically upon influencer marketing. On the one hand, this chapter discusses the relationship between the influencer and the individual company that the influencer endorses products for, arguing that this approach is disguised consumer manipulation. On the other hand, this chapter depicts the relevance of the Business and Human Rights approach for influencer marketing: it argues that the corporate responsibility to respect human rights applies to the use of technology for the purposes of advertising, and hence also influencer marketing.

Beinahe taglich ringen neue Technologieangebote um die Aufmerksamkeit der Unternehmen. Dabei steht vermehrt die Vielzahl moglicher Vermessungspraktiken der Mitarbeitenden im Vordergrund. Diese Vermessungspraktiken, auch Datafizierung der Mitarbeitenden genannt, soll die Personalsteuerung vereinfachen – teilweise sogar automatisieren – und so zur Wertschopfung im Unternehmen beitragen. Dieser Beitrag legt dar, was Datafizierung in der Personalsteuerung genau bedeutet und wie fortgeschritten die Verbreitung dieser neuen Technologien tatsachlich schon ist.

This chapter investigates human rights related activities of luxury fashion brands. The author presents an overview of the degree of transparency to which leading luxury companies disclose information on their sustainability policies and management approaches. The focus of the chapter is on human rights as well as social and labor standards on the manufacturing stage. Transparency is crucial for pushing sustainability in the industry forward as it allows investors and consumers alike to make their investment or purchase decisions respectively on solid grounds. It also allows competitors and allies in the business to benchmark their performance within the industry and to learn from each other’s practices. The author defines six crucial dimensions of corporate information disclosure on social sustainability and provides a comprehensive comparative company assessment including leading luxury fashion brands such as Burberry, Hermès, Prada and Moet Hennessy Louis Vuitton.

The goal of this paper is to develop an empirically grounded framework to analyze how new technologies alter or expand traditional organizational control configurations. New technologies for data gathering, analysis, interpretation and learning are increasingly applied in the workplace. Technology suppliers are developing and aggressively marketing solutions for employee management and control with growing interest. Yet detailed insight about the effects of these technologies on traditional control is lacking. To convey a better understanding about new technologies in employee management and control, this paper proposes a “New Technology Control Framework” on the basis of an iterative research design. The framework is anchored in the configurational control theory, drawing on empirical insights of research on electronic performance monitoring and enhanced 26 topic-guided interviews with experts, who either produce new technological control solutions or apply these. The prototype of a morphology of new technology control configurations (NTCCs) is refined through expert workshops and undergoes plausibility checks with users. The final framework is composed of eleven distinct, yet interrelated conceptual building blocks. The framework offers a first point of orientation to systematically analyze key implications for theory and practice for turning NTCC into a productive force for organizational control. It indicates which elements a configurational theory of organizational control should address in the digital age, to assist decision makers to strategically implement, customize off-the-shelf products and manage digitalization at the workplace. The results offer a conducive starting point for a range of scientific discourses in multiple fields by contributing to understanding how technological progress and digital transformation influence organizations.