This article reconceptualizes the structural injustices faced by migrant workers in transnational labor systems characterized by fragmented governance and exploitative recruitment practices. While frameworks like the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights promote corporate human rights due diligence (HRDD), their practical implementation often falls short in addressing the systemic nature of exploitation. We argue for a conceptual shift from “global supply chains” to “Human Supply Networks” to capture the decentralized, relational dynamics of migrant labor sourcing that diffuse accountability and dissipate the force of risk-based HRDD. Drawing on Young’s Social Connection Model, we develop a relational responsibility framework that extends beyond liability to include complicity in structural injustice. We conclude by outlining five propositions for a justice-oriented HRDD approach that centers the lived experiences of migrant workers and promotes more meaningful corporate accountability in transnational labor governance.
AragonC.JaggarA. M. (2018). Agency, complicity, and the responsibility to resist structural injustice. Journal of Social Philosophy, 49(3), 439–460.
2.
ArendtH. (2015). Organized guilt and universal responsibility. In KingR. H. (Ed.), Arendt and America (pp. 25–24). University of Chicago Press.
3.
AshwinS.OkaC.SchuesslerE.AlexanderR.LohmeyerN. (2020). Spillover effects across transnational industrial relations agreements: The potential and limits of collective action in global supply chains. ILR Review, 73(4), 995–1020.
4.
AubertI.GarrauM.LatourS. G. D. (2019). Iris Marion Young and responsibility. Critical Horizons, 20(2), 103–108.
5.
AxelssonL.HedbergC.PetterssonN.ZhangQ. (2022). Re-visiting the ‘black box’ of migration: State-intermediary co-production of regulatory spaces of labor migration. Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies, 48(3), 594–612.
6.
BalesK. (2016). Blood and earth: Modern slavery, ecocide, and the secret to saving the world. Random House.
7.
BarnettM. L. (2019). The business case for corporate social responsibility: A critique and an indirect path forward. Business & Society, 58(1), 167–190.
8.
BarrientosS. W. (2013). ‘Labor Chains’: Analysing the role of labor contractors in global production networks. Journal of Development Studies, 49(8), 1058–1071.
9.
BHRRC. (2021). Migrant workers in Jordan’s garment sector during COVID-19 (Report).
10.
BHRRC. (2023). After the whistle—Migrant workers speak out on exploitation during Qatar world cup 2022 (Report).
11.
BianchiL.CaruanaR.ShivjiA.K. (2025). Engaging marginalized stakeholders: Towards a dialogical theorization of effective corporate-rightsholder remedy. Journal of Business Ethics, 201, 605–619.
12.
BrightC.MarxA.PineauN.WoutersJ. (2020). Towards a corporate duty for lead companies to respect human rights in their GVCs?, Business and Politics, 22, 667–697.
13.
BuenoN.BrightC. (2020). Implementing human rights due diligence through corporate civil liability. International and Comparative Law Quarterly, 69(4), 789–818.
14.
BuhmannK.FonsecaA.AndrewsN.AmatulliG. (2024). Meaningful stakeholder engagement: The concept, practice and governance. In BuhmannK.FonsecaA.AndrewsN.AmatulliG. (Eds.), The Routledge handbook on meaningful stakeholder engagement (pp. 3–39). Routledge.
15.
ChamberlainJ. A. (2020). Responsibility for migrants: From hospitality to solidarity. Political Theory, 48(1), 57–83.
16.
ChuangJ. A. (2015). Giving as governance? Philanthrocapitalism and modern-day slavery abolitionism. UCLA Law Review, 62, 1544–1547.
17.
ConsterdineE.SamukS. (2018). Temporary migration programmes: The Cause or antidote of migrant worker exploitation in UK agriculture, International Migration & Integration, 19, 1005–1020.
18.
Cour d’Appel de Paris. (2025, June17). Decision of 17 June 2025, N° RG 24/05193.
19.
Cour de Cassation. (2025, May6). Decision of 6 May 2025, n° 24-84.089.
20.
DadushS. (2022, January5). Prosocial contracts: Making relational contracts more relational. Law and Contemporary Problems, 85(2), 123–145.
21.
DahanY.LernerH.Milman-SivanF. (2023). Shared responsibility and labor rights in global supply chains. Journal of Business Ethics, 182, 1025–1040.
22.
DattaM. N.BalesK. (2013). Slavery is bad for business: Analyzing the impact of slavery on national economies. The Brown Journal of World Affairs, 19, 205–223.
23.
De BakkerF. G.MattenD.SpenceL. J.WickertC. (2020). The elephant in the room: The nascent research agenda on corporations, social responsibility, and capitalism. Business & Society, 59(7), 1295–1302.
24.
DierksmeierC. (2011). The freedom–responsibility nexus in management philosophy and business ethics. Journal of Business Ethics, 101(2), 263–283.
25.
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.
26.
Equidem. (2022). “If we complain, we are fired” discrimination and exploitation of migrant construction workers on FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 Stadium Sites (Report).
27.
FarbenblumB.NolanJ. (2017). The business of migrant worker recruitment: Who has the responsibility and leverage to protect rights?Texas International Law Journal, 52(1), 1–44.
28.
FarguesP.ShahN. S.BrouwerI. (2019). Working and living conditions of low-income migrant workers in the hospitality and construction Sectors in Qatar (No. 1/2019). GLMM.
29.
FasterlingB.DemuijnckG. (2013). Human rights in the void? Due diligence in the UN guiding principles on business and human rights. Journal of Business Ethics, 116, 799–814.
30.
FasterlingB., (2023). Guiding principle 19: Acting upon human rights impact assessments. In ChoudhuryB. (Ed.), The United Nations guiding principles on business and human rights – A commentary (pp. 145–155). Edward Elgar.
31.
Focus on Labour Exploitation (FLEX). (2024). Bound to work (Report).
32.
FoleyL.PiperN. (2024). Moving the goalposts in Qatar: Tracing the labour reform process by and through transnational players. Current Sociology. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1177/00113921241292832
33.
Fox-RuhsC.PalmeJ. (2025). Measuring and analysing the social and labour rights of irregular migrants: New indicators for twenty-eight European countries (PRIME research paper). www.protectingirregularmigrants.eu
34.
FrantzE. (2013). Jordan’s unfree workforce: State-sponsored bonded labor in the Arab region, The Journal of Development Studies, 49, 1072–1087.
35.
FudgeJ. (2019). (Re)conceptualising unfree labor: Local labor control regimes and constraints on workers’ freedoms. Global Labor Journal, 10(2), 108–122.
36.
GanjiS. K. (2016). Leveraging the World Cup: Mega sporting events, human rights risk, and worker welfare reform in Qatar, Journal on Migration and Human Security, 4, 221–259.
37.
GardnerA. M.PessoaS.HarknessL. M. (2014). Labor migrants and access to justice in contemporary Qatar. Sound Ideas, University of Puget Sound.
38.
GirschikV. (2020). Shared responsibility for societal problems: The role of internal activists in reframing corporate responsibility. Business & Society, 59(1), 34–66.
39.
GoethalsS. (2025). Development response to forced migration: A framework for business shared responsibilities. In OlsenT.Van BurenH.Schrempf-StirlingJ. (Eds.), A research agenda for business and human rights (pp. 57–74). Edward Elgar Publishing.
40.
GoethalsS.BardwellJ.BhackerM.EzzelarabB. (2017). Business human rights responsibility for refugees and migrant workers: Turning policies into practice in the Middle-East, Business and Human Rights Journal, 2, 335–342.
41.
GordonJ. (2017). Regulating the human supply chain. Iowa Law Review, 102, 445–504.
42.
HabermasJ. (1984). The theory of communicative action. (Volume 1): Reason and the rationalization of society. Beacon Press.
43.
HabermasJ. (1987). The theory of communicative action. (Volume 2): Lifeworld and system: A critique of functionalist reason. Beacon Press.
44.
HajroA.ŽilinskaitėM.BaldassariP. (2022). Addressing the elephant in the room: Global migration and its implications for business school teaching. Academy of Management Learning & Education, 21(1), 101–120.
45.
HaslangerS. (2015). Distinguished lecture: Social structure, narrative and explanation. Canadian Journal of Philosophy, 45(1), 1–15.
46.
HelfenM.SchüßlerE.SydowJ. (2018). How can employment relations in global value networks be managed towards social responsibility?Human Relations, 71(12), 1640–1665.
47.
JellinekG. (1905). System der subjektiven öffentlichen Rechte [System of subjective public rights]. Mohr Siebeck.
48.
KutzC. (2000). Complicity: Ethics and the law for a collective age. Cambridge University Press.
49.
LavinC. (2008). The politics of responsibility. University of Illinois Press.
50.
LeBaronG. (2015). Unfree labor beyond binaries. International Feminist Journal of Politics, 17(1), 1–19.
51.
LeBaronG.ListerJ. (2016). Ethical auditing and the supply chains of global corporations (Report SPERI Global Political Economy Briefs). University of Sheffield.
52.
LeBaronG.HowardN.ThibosC.KyritsisP. (2018). Confronting root causes: Forced labor in global supply chains, Sheffield Political Economy Research Institute (SPERI).
53.
LimD. (2021). Low-skilled migrants and the historical reproduction of immigration injustice. Ethical Theory and Moral Practice, 24(5), 1229–1244.
54.
LyytinenK.HirschheimR. (1988). Information systems as rational discourse: An application of Habermas’s theory of communicative action. Scandinavian Journal of Management, 4(1–2), 19–30.
55.
MacchiC.BrightC. (2020). Hardening soft law: The Implementation of the human rights due diligence requirements in domestic legislations. In BuscemiM.LazzeriniN.MagiL.RussoD. (Eds.), Legal sources in business and human rights: Evolving dynamics in International and European Law (pp. 218–247). Brill.
56.
McCarthyT. (1978). The critical theory of Jürgen Habermas. MIT Press.
57.
McCorquodaleR.NolanC. (2021). The effectiveness of human rights due diligence for preventing human rights abuses. Netherlands International Law Review, 68, 455–478.
58.
McCorquodaleR.SmitL.NeelyS.BrooksR. (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.
59.
McKeownM. (2018). Iris Marion Young’s “Social Connection Model” of responsibility: Clarifying the meaning of connection. Journal of Social Philosophy, 49(3), 484–502.
60.
MillwardP. (2016). World Cup 2022 and Qatar’s construction projects: Relational power in networks and relational responsibilities to migrant workers. Current Sociology, 65, 756–776.
61.
NarvesonJ. (2002). Collective responsibility. The Journal of Ethics, 6(2), 179–198.
62.
NolanJ.BottG. (2018). Global supply chains and human rights: Spotlight on forced labor and modern slavery practices, Australian Journal of Human Rights, 24, 44–69.
63.
NolandJ.PhillipsR. (2010). Stakeholder engagement, discourse ethics and strategic management. International Journal of Management Reviews, 12(1), 39–49.
64.
NutiA. (2018). Temporary labor migration within the EU as structural injustice. Ethics & International Affairs, 32(2), 203–225.
65.
PalumboL. (2022). Exploitation in the agri-food sector in Europe. European Journal of Migration and Law, 24(2), 287–312.
66.
PhillipsR.Schrempf-StirlingJ. (2022). Young’s social connection model and corporate responsibility. Philosophy of Management, 21(3), 315–336.
67.
RobertsJ. (1991). The possibilities of accountability. Accounting, Organizations and Society, 16(4), 355–368.
SchererA. G.PalazzoG. (2007). Toward a political conception of corporate responsibility: Business and society seen from a Habermasian perspective. Academy of Management Review, 32(4), 1096–1120.
70.
Schrempf-StirlingJ.Van BurenH. J.WettsteinF. (2022). Human rights: A promising perspective for business & society. Business & Society, 61(5), 1282–1321.
71.
ShivjiA. K. (2024). Rightsholder-driven remedy for business-related human rights abuse: Case of the fair food program. Journal of Business Ethics, 193, 363–382.
72.
SkřivánkováK. (2010). Between decent work and forced labor: Examining the continuum of exploitation. Joseph Rowntree Foundation.
73.
SørensenN. N.Gammeltoft-HansenT. (2013). Introduction. In SørensenN. N.Gammeltoft-HansenT. (Eds.), The migration industry and the commercialization of international migration (pp. 1–23). Routledge.
74.
StraussK.McGrathS. (2017). Temporary migration, precarious employment and unfree labor relations: Exploring the ‘continuum of exploitation’ in Canada’s Temporary Foreign Worker Program. Geoforum, 78, 199–208.
75.
TakalaT.PallabP. (2000). Individual, collective and social responsibility of the firm. Business Ethics: A European Review, 9(2), 109–118.
76.
UlrichP. (2008). Integrative economic ethics: Foundations of a civilized market economy. Cambridge University Press.
77.
UnderhillE.RimmerM. (2015). Layered vulnerability: Temporary migrants in Australian horticulture. Journal of Industrial Relations, 58(5), 608–626.
78.
United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC). (2007). Special Representative of the Secretary-General on the issue of human rights and transnational corporations and other business enterprises, ‘Corporate Responsibility Under International Law and Issues in Extraterritorial Regulation: Summary of Legal Workshops’ (2007) A/HRC/4/35/Add.
79.
United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC). (2008). ‘Protect, respect and remedy’: A framework for business and human rights, A/HRC/8/5.
80.
United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC). (2011). Guiding principles on business and human rights: Implementing the United Nations “protect, respect and remedy” framework, A/HRC/17/31.
81.
Van BurenH. J.Schrempf-StirlingJ.Westermann-BehayloM. (2021). Business and human trafficking: A social connection and political responsibility model. Business & Society, 60(2), 341–375.
82.
Van BurenH. J.Schrempf-StirlingJ. (2022). Beyond structural injustice: Pursuing justice for workers in post-pandemic global value chains, Business Ethics, the Environment and Responsibility, 31, 969–980.
83.
Van HoT. (2021). Defining the relationships: “Cause, contribute, and directly linked to” in the UN guiding principles on business and human rights. Human Rights Quarterly, 43(4), 625–658.
84.
WettsteinF. (2010). The duty to protect: Corporate complicity, political responsibility, and human rights advocacy. Journal of Business Ethics, 96(1), 33–47.
85.
YoungI. M. (2004). Responsibility and global labor justice. Journal of Political Philosophy, 12(4), 365–388.
86.
YoungI. M. (2006). Responsibility and global justice: A social connection model. Social Philosophy and Policy, 23(1), 102–130.
87.
YoungI. M. (2011). Responsibility for justice. Oxford University Press.
88.
ZhengR. (2018). What is my role in changing the system? A new model of responsibility for structural injustice. Ethical Theory and Moral Practice, 21(4), 869–885.
89.
ŽilinskaitėM.HajroA.BaldassariP.MiskaC. (2025). Migration, human supply chains, and the multinational enterprise: Confronting an overlooked global mobility challenge. Human Resource Management Journal, 35, 742–753.
