Sepideh Parsa

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Papers by Sepideh Parsa

The Sustainable Business and Human Resources: Where is the Link?

Transparency and disclosure in supply chains: modern slavery and worker voice

Under section 54 of the Modern Slavery Act 2015 (MSA), large British companies are required to re... more Under section 54 of the Modern Slavery Act 2015 (MSA), large British companies are required to report on their efforts to monitor and protect the labour rights of their employees and workers on an annual basis. There are however criticisms. First, there is no requirement to audit Modern Slavery statements and this raises question over the credibility of the information that companies report. Second, the MSA is a soft governance tool that allows too much reporting flexibility. While the original intention behind this was to encourage companies to get to know their supply chains in the first place and subsequently focus on improving their reporting over time, there have been general calls to tighten up the non-mandatory reporting requirements of the MSA in the hope that this would in turn result in better quality of reporting. In this report, we present the key findings for our detailed examination of the Modern Slavery Statements of the largest 100 British companies. In order to exam...

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Disclosure of social information by small/medium-sized companies

Corporate governance and HRM

This chapter begins with a comparison of different definitions of corporate governance arguing th... more This chapter begins with a comparison of different definitions of corporate governance arguing that governance structures are the end results of social and political processes. The chapter then moves on to discuss different corporate governance mechanisms and how employees in each mechanism are considered. Three governance mechanisms, namely the Anglo-Saxon mechanism in the UK, the stakeholder approach in Germany and the Japanese corporate governance mechanism are discussed. This is followed by a review of the development of those aspects of the regulatory codes that could have impacts on employees. The chapter ends with a section on three theoretical perspectives that are commonly used in corporate governance literature and how employees are positioned in governance structure within each theoretical perspective.

How do Chinese businesses view corporate social responsibility

Have labour practices and human rights disclosures enhanced corporate accountability? The case of the GRI framework

Accounting Forum

This paper critically evaluates Transnational Corporations' (TNCs) claimed adherence to the Globa... more This paper critically evaluates Transnational Corporations' (TNCs) claimed adherence to the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI)'s 'labour' and 'human rights' reporting guidelines and examines how successful the GRI has been in enhancing comparability and transparency. We found limited evidence of TNCs discharging their accountability to their workforce and, rather, we found evidence to suggest that disclosure was motivated more by enhancing their legitimacy. TNCs failed to adhere to the guidelines, which meant that material information items were often missing, rendering comparability of information meaningless. Instead, TNCs reported large volumes of generic/anecdotal information without acknowledging the impediments they faced in practice. 1. Introduction: workforce reporting as part of corporate social responsibility (CSR) agenda This paper examines the information that transnational corporations (TNCs) report on their workforce in accordance with the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) guidelines. The analysis presented contributes to the debates around accountability and legitimacy theory. That is, it examines the extent to which disclosure acts as a platform to embellish or exaggerate 'good behaviour' for the purpose of boosting corporate image, rather than enhancing transparency for the purpose of discharging corporate accountability to their workforce. With the increasing attention paid to the impact that global value chains 1 have on labour rights, this paper examines the extent and quality of information reported on the internal and external workforce of the world's largest companies. This is done using the GRI reporting guidelines on labour (LA) and human rights (HR). The GRI provides detailed guidelines with the intention of raising transparency and ultimately corporate accountability to stakeholders (GRI, 2011, p. 10). The extant literature on workforce reporting tends to concentrate on internal workforce issues in one specific country (e.g., Williams & Adams, 2013) while workers further down the value chain (the external workforce) remain almost invisible. This paper focuses on issues related to the external as well as the internal workforce. Issues relating to the employment conditions of the directly employed workforce of the TNC differ to those of reporting on the external workforce. For the former, reporting falls within the boundaries of the TNC and under their direct authority, rendering access to data relatively easy. In contrast, reporting on the external workforce falls outside corporate boundaries, making data access more complex. This is compounded by the international cross

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Non-financial information disclosure and communication in large UK companies

Key Research Question I "Do companies disclose non-financial information to legitimise their corp... more Key Research Question I "Do companies disclose non-financial information to legitimise their corporate behaviours to their stakeholder groups? " To explore the first key research question, certain corporate characteristics such as size, growth, industrial affiliation, and corporate performance are chosen (in Chapter 3) to test if non-fmancial information disclosure is associated with either of the selected characteristics. The second key research question expands the first key research question and is presented as follows: Key Research Question 2 "Do companies disclose non-financial information to meet the information requirements of their stakeholder groups? " The second key research question is concerned with the 'quality' of non-financial information and whether companies pay any attention to 'quality' so that-they could meet the information requirements of their stakeholder groups. Supporting research questions are posed for each of the key research questions I and 2. These supporting research"questions are derived from the existing literature and are discussed in Chapter 3. For the first key research question, supporting research questions I to 4 are presented as follows: Supporting Research Question I "Are there any associations between industrial affiliation and the level ofnon-financial information disclosed by the major UK companies? " Supporting Research Question 2 "Are there any associations between corporate size and the level of non-financial information disclosed by the major UK companies? 12 Chapter I Supporting Research Question 3 "Are there any associations between corporate growth rate and the level of non-financial information disclosed by the major UK companies? " Supporting Research Question 4 Are there any associations between corporate performance and the level of non-financial information disclosed by the major UK companies? " While supporting research questions 1,2 and 4 are based on the existing accounting literature, to the knowledge of the author no previous study was found in the field of * accounting to relate to supporting research question 3. The second key research question is explored using the following supporting research questions: Supporting Research Question 5 "Do companies identify their stakeholder groups according to their importance? "

Roper, I., Parsa, S., and Muller-Camen, M. (2011) “The Social Audit of Labour Standards: What can it tell us about Employer Motivation to Disclose?” British Journal of Industrial Relations Anniversary Conference, 12-13th December, London School of Economics

Introduction This paper will present findings from an analysis of the world"s largest compan... more Introduction This paper will present findings from an analysis of the world"s largest companies" sustainability reports. In particular the present paper will examine the claimed adherence of multinational corporations (MNCs) to employment-related indicators of the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI). The approach combines the disciplines of employment relations with the "social reporting" sub-genre within social accounting.

Reporting on sustainability and HRM: a comparative study of sustainability reporting practices by the world's largest companies

The International Journal of Human Resource Management, 2015

Corporate social responsibility reporting in China: political, social and corporate influences

This paper explores the main drivers of CSR and its reporting for large Chinese listed companies,... more This paper explores the main drivers of CSR and its reporting for large Chinese listed companies, and identifies the key institutional pressures and stakeholder influences that shape CSR and its reporting. The data were collected through interviews with managers from large listed Chinese companies. Our findings reveal how the Chinese government uses social organisations and social intermediaries to facilitate and mediate CSR and its reporting to meet changing societal expectations across regions, while ensuring that companies remain responsive to the expectations of international stakeholders. We find that CSR and its reporting help companies gain political legitimacy domestically, while retaining their legitimacy in global markets. Companies co-operate with social organisations and social intermediaries actively and continuously. This helped companies secure political legitimacy with the government, while helping officials maintain their social legitimacy. Our findings on regional ...

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