Exploring effectiveness of entity actions to eliminate modern slavery risk – Early Australian evidence

Abstract

The need for entities to eliminate the unethical and illegal practice of modern slavery in their operations and supply chains has led different jurisdictions to require large entities to report on how they assess the effectiveness of actions taken. In Australia, to build awareness of practices for internal and external stakeholders, the Australian Modern Slavery Act 2018 (Cth) mandates annual reporting in modern slavery statements and provides guidance as to how effectiveness of actions might be reported on. Based on theories/frameworks/models from literature addressing organisational effectiveness, an inductive analysis is conducted on the first 255 modern slavery statements published on the Australian Modern Slavery Register. Results indicate great diversity in approaches to reporting on effectiveness of actions, ranging from a total lack of reporting, through basic compliance, to going beyond compliance. The observations are used to develop a comprehensive framework for assessment of organisational effectiveness and an assessment of the extent to which current effectiveness theories/frameworks/models can guide future developments. The paper suggests adoption of the proposed framework can lead entities to improved transparency and validation of the effectiveness of their actions, as an important first step towards elimination of modern slavery in their supply chains.