Business and human rights (BHR) scholarship calls for research into how human rights are understood and translated within organizations. In contrast to the dominant single-actor approach to translation scholarship, this article adopts a multi-level narrative approach to explore how work-floor employees, operational managers, and senior managers interpret human rights. Based on interviews in the British hospitality sector, we identify three distinct narratives: “local discrimination and inequality”; “severe foreign harms and ethical compliance”; and “external issues and legal compliance.” These narratives reveal the divergent interpretations of human rights across organizational levels. Building on these narratives, we develop and apply a “BHR as sensemaking” framework that shows the embodied, emotional, and cognitive sources of meaning underpinning these narratives. Our findings underscore the importance of adopting a multi-level integrative approach to BHR translation that recognizes organizational actors’ diverse sources of meaning and knowledge shaping human rights responsibility in practice.
AddoM.MartinJ. (2015). The evolving business and society landscape: Can human rights make a difference? In MartinJ.BravoK. (Eds.), The business and human rights landscape (pp. 348–384). Cambridge University Press.
2.
BangerterA.CornelissenJ. (2017). Studying discourse processes in institutional contexts. In SchoberM. F.RappD. N.BrittM. A. (Eds.), The Routledge handbook of discourse processes (pp. 69–96). Routledge.
3.
BardonT.BrownA. D.PezéS. (2017). Identity regulation, identity work and phronesis. Human Relations, 70(8), 940–965.
4.
BaumT.HaiN. T. T. (2019). Applying sustainable employment principles in the tourism industry: Righting human rights wrongs?Tourism Recreation Research, 44(3), 371–381.
5.
BianchiL.CaruanaR.ShivjiA. K. (2024). Engaging marginalized stakeholders: Towards a dialogical theorization of effective corporate-rightsholder remedy. Journal of Business Ethics. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10551-024-05879-6
BrownA. D.StaceyP.NandhakumarP. (2008). Making sense of sensemaking narratives. Human Relations, 61(8), 1035–1062.
8.
BuhmannK. (2023). Human rights and meaningful stakeholder engagement. In Bonnafous-BoucherM.RendtorffJ. D. (Eds.), Encyclopedia of stakeholder management (pp. 150–155). Edward Elgar.
9.
BuhmannK.FasterlingB.VoiculescuA. (2018). Business and human rights research methods. Nordic Journal of Human Rights, 36, 323–332.
10.
BullockK.Di DomenicoM.MillerG.ShirgholamiZ.WongY. (2024). Under the radar? Modern slavery and labour exploitation risks for the hotel industry. Tourism Management, 102, 104857.
11.
CraggW. (2012). Business and human rights: A principle and value-based analysis. In CraggW. (Ed.), Business and human rights (pp. 3–46). Edger Elgar Publishing.
12.
CunhaM. P. E.CleggS.RegoA.GomesJ. F. S. (2015). Embodying sensemaking: Learning from the extreme case of Vann Nath, Prisoner at S-21. European Management Review, 12, 41–58.
13.
CunliffeA.CouplandC. (2012). From hero to villain to hero: Making experience sensible through embodied narrative sensemaking. Human Relations, 65(1), 63–88.
14.
CzarniawskaB. (2004). Narratives in social sciences research. Sage.
15.
CzarniawskaB.JoergesB. (1996). Travels of ideas. In CzarniawskaB.SevónG. (Eds.), Translating organizational change (pp. 13–48). Walter de Gruyter.
16.
De RondM.HolemanI.Howard-GrenvilleJ. (2019). Sensemaking from the body: An enactive ethnography of rowing the Amazon. Academy of Management Journal, 62(6), 1961–1988.
17.
DupontV.PietrzakD.VerbruggeB. (2024). A step in the right direction, or more of the same? A systematic review of the impact of human rights due diligence legislation. Human Rights Review, 25, 131–154.
18.
FasterlingB. (2017). Human rights due diligence as risk management: Social risk versus human rights risk. Business and Human Rights Journal, 2(2), 225–247.
19.
FavottoA.KollmanK. (2022). When rights enter the CSR field: British firms’ engagement with human rights and the UN Guiding Principles. Human Rights Review, 23, 21–40.
20.
FineG. A.ShulmanD. (2009). Lies from the field: Ethical issues in organizational ethnography. In YbemaS.YanowD.WelsH.KamsteegF. (Eds.), Organizational ethnography: Studying the complexities of everyday life (pp. 177–195). London: Sage.
21.
FrenchS. (2018). Between globalization and Brexit: Migration, pay and the road to modern slavery in the UK hospitality industry. Research in Hospitality Management, 8(1), 23–31.
22.
GiulianiE.TuanA.Calvimontes CanoJ. (2021). Creating shared value meets human rights: A sense-making perspective in small-scale firms. Journal of Business Ethics, 173, 489–505.
23.
GlynnM.WatkissL. (2020). Of organizing and sensemaking: From action to meaning and back again in a half-century of Weick’s theorizing. Journal of Management Studies, 57(7), 1331–1354.
GoethalsS. (2019). Exploring migrant employees’ “rights-talk” in the British Hospitality Sector. Business and Human Rights Journal, 4(2), 287–315.
26.
GoodaleM. (2007). Introduction: Locating rights, envisioning law between the global and the local. In GoodaleM.MerryS. E. (Eds.), The practice of human rights: Tracking law between the local and global (pp. 1–38). Cambridge University Press.
27.
GrearA. (2006). Human rights—Human bodies? Some reflections on corporate human rights distortion, the legal subject, embodiment and human rights theory. Law Critique, 17, 171–199.
28.
GriffinJ. (2008). On human rights. Oxford University Press.
29.
HernesT.ObstfeldD. (2022). A temporal narrative view of sensemaking. Organization Theory, 3(4).
30.
HsiehN. (2017). Business responsibilities for human rights: A commentary on Arnold. Business and Human Rights Journal, 2(2), 297–309.
31.
KofmanE.LukesS.D’AngeloA.MontagnaN. (2016). The equality implications of being a migrant in Britain (Research report 19). Equality and Human Rights Commission.
32.
LinnebergM. S.MadsenM. T.NielsenJ. A. (2019). Micro-level translation of corporate sustainability: When strategy meets practice in the Danish hospitality sector. Journal of Cleaner Production, 240, 118159.
33.
LockeE. A. (2007). The case for inductive theory building. Journal of Management, 33(6), 867–890.
34.
MaherR.BuhmannK. (2019). Meaningful stakeholder engagement: Bottom-up initiatives within global governance frameworks. Geoforum, 107, 231–234.
35.
MaitlisS.ChristiansonM. (2014). Sensemaking in organizations: Taking stock and moving forward. The Academy of Management Annals, 8(1), 57–125.
36.
McCorquodaleR.SmitL.NeelyS.BrooksS. (2017). Human rights due diligence in law and practice: Good practices and challenges for business enterprises. Business and Human Rights Journal, 2(2), 195–224.
37.
McVeyM.FergusonJ.PuyouF. R. (2023). “Traduttore, Traditore?” Translating human rights into the corporate context. Journal of Business Ethics, 182, 573–596.
38.
MerryS. E. (2006). Human rights and gender violence. The University of Chicago Press.
39.
MikkelsenE. N.WåhlinR. (2020). Dominant, hidden and forbidden sensemaking: The politics of ideology and emotions in diversity management. Organization, 27(4), 557–577.
40.
NolanJ. (2017). Business and human rights: The challenge of putting principles into practice and regulating global supply chains. Alternative Law Journal, 42(1), 42–46.
41.
NussbaumM. (2002). Capabilities and Social Justice. International Studies Review, 4(2), 123–135.
42.
ObaraL. J. (2017). “What does this mean?”: How UK companies make sense of human rights. Business and Human Rights Journal, 2(2), 249.
43.
ObaraL. J.PeattieK. (2018). Bridging the great divide? Making sense of the human rights-CSR relationship in UK multinational companies. Journal of World Business, 53, 781–793.
44.
O’KellyC. (2019). Human rights and the grammar of corporate social responsibility. Social & Legal Studies, 28(5), 625–649.
45.
OlsenT.RehbeinK.Snelson-PowellA.Westermann-BehayloM. (2022). Human rights in the oil and gas industry: When are policies and practices enough to prevent abuse?Business & Society, 61(6), 1512–1557.
46.
ParaskevasA.BrookesM. (2018). Human trafficking in hotels: An “invisible” threat for a vulnerable industry. International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management, 30(3), 1996–14.
47.
PatriottaG. (2003). Sensemaking on the shop floor: Narratives of knowledge in organizations. Journal of Management Studies, 40(2), 349–375.
48.
PodgorodnichenkoN.EdgarF.AkmalA.McAndrewI. (2021). Sustainability through sensemaking: Human resource professionals’ engagement and enactment of corporate social responsibility. Journal of Cleaner Production, 293, 126150.
49.
PolkinghorneD. E. (2005). Language and meaning data collection in qualitative research. Journal of Counselling Psychology, 52, 137–145.
50.
PrattM. G.SonensheinS.FeldmanM. S. (2022). Moving beyond templates: A bricolage approach to conducting trustworthy qualitative research. Organizational Research Methods, 25(2), 211–238.
51.
RamasastryA. (2015). Corporate social responsibility versus business and human rights: Bridging the gap between responsibility and accountability. Journal of Human Rights, 14, 237–259.
RiessmanC. K. (1993). Narrative analysis. SAGE Publications.
54.
RuggieJ. G. (2013). Just business: Multinational corporations and human rights. WW Norton & Company.
55.
RuggieJ. G.ReesC.DavisR. (2021). Ten years after: From UN guiding principles to multi-fiduciary obligations. Business and Human Rights Journal, 6(2), 179–197.
56.
SandbergJ.TsoukasH. (2020). Sensemaking reconsidered: Towards a broader understanding through phenomenology. Organization Theory, 1(1).
57.
SaratA.KearnsT. H. (2001). The unsettled status of human rights: An introduction. In SaratA.KearnsT. H. (Eds.), Human rights: Concepts, contests, contingencies (pp. 1–24). University of Michigan Press.
58.
SarfatyG. (2020). Translating modern slavery into management practice. Law & Social Inquiry, 45(4), 1027–1051.
59.
ScheperC. (2015). From naming and shaming to “knowing and showing”: Human rights and the power of corporate practice. The International Journal of Human Rights, 19(6), 737–756.
60.
Schrempf-StirlingJ.Van BurenH. J. (2020). Business and human rights scholarship in social issues in management: An analytical review. Business and Human Rights Journal, 5(1), 28–55.
61.
Schrempf-StirlingJ.Van BurenH. J. (2024). The importance of human rights for management and organization studies. British Journal of Management. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1111/1467-8551.12799
62.
Schrempf-StirlingJ.Van BurenH. J.WettsteinF. (2022). Human rights: A promising perspective for Business & Society. Business & Society, 61(5), 1282–1321.
63.
Schwartz-SheaP.YanowD. (2012). Interpretive approaches to research design. Routledge.
64.
SmitL.HollyG.McCorquodaleR.NeelyS. (2020). Human rights due diligence in global supply change: Evidence of corporate practice to inform a legal standard. The International Journal of Human Rights, 25(6), 954–973.
65.
SzablewskaN.KubackiK. (2019). A human rights-based approach to the social good in social marketing. Journal of Business Ethics, 155, 871–888.
66.
ThurlowA.MillsJ. H. (2015). Telling tales out of school: Sensemaking and narratives of legitimacy in an organizational change process. Scandinavian Journal of Management, 31(2), 246–254.
67.
TracyS. J. (2010). Qualitative quality: Eight “big-tent” criteria for excellent qualitative research. Qualitative Inquiry, 16(10), 837–851.
68.
United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC). (2011). Report of the Special Representative of the Secretary- General on the issue of human rights and transnational corporations and other business enterprises, John Ruggie: Guiding principles on business and human rights: Implementing the United Nations “Protect, Respect and Remedy” Framework. A/HRC/17/31. Seventeenth Session, Agenda item 3 Promotion and protection of all human rights, civil, political, economic, social and cultural rights, including the right to development.
69.
Van GrinsvenM.SturdyA.HeusinkveldS. (2020). Identities in translation: Management concepts as means and outcomes of identity work. Organization Studies, 41(6), 873–897.
70.
Van HulstM.TsoukasH. (2023). Understanding extended narrative sensemaking: How police officers accomplish story work. Organization, 30(4), 730–753.
71.
VoughH. C.CazaB. B.MaitlisS. (2020). Exploring the relationship between identity and sensemaking (pp. 244–256). Oxford University Press.
72.
WalshD.PajonL.LawsonK.HafeezK.HeathM.CourtN. (2022). Increased risks of labor exploitation in the UK following Brexit and the Covid-19 pandemic: Perspectives of the agri-food and construction sectors. Journal of Human Trafficking, 1–16.
73.
WeickK. E. (1995). Sensemaking in organizations. Sage Publications.
74.
WettsteinF. (2021). Betting on the wrong (Trojan) horse: CSR and the implementation of the UN guiding principles on business and human rights. Business and Human Rights Journal, 6(2), 312–325.
75.
WettsteinF.GiulianiE.SantangeloG. D.StahlG. K. (2019). International business and human rights: A research agenda. Journal of World Business, 54(1), 54–65.
76.
WhittleA.VaaraE.MaitlisS. (2023). The role of language in organizational sensemaking: An integrative theoretical framework and an agenda for future research. Journal of Management, 49(6), 1807–1840.
77.
WilsonR. A. (2007). Tyrannosaurus lex: The anthropology of human rights and transnational law. In GoodaleM.MerryS. E. (Eds.), The practice of human rights: Tracking the law between the global and the local (pp. 341–369). Cambridge University Press.
78.
WinchenbachA.HannP.MillerG. (2019). Rethinking decent work: The value of dignity in tourism employment. Journal of Sustainable Tourism, 27(7), 1026–1043.
