Social movement NGOs and the comprehensiveness of conflict mineral disclosures: evidence from global companies

Abstract

Islam and van Staden commenced their argument by drawing our attention to the enormous stakeholders’ concern on human rights violations across industries and countries, including the conflict zones of Africa. The concerns for transparency among the social movement NGOs and activists led to an enactment of the transparency Act – Dodd-Frank Act – in the US to regulate disclosures practices of corporations involved in the mineral supply chains. Whilst the Dodd-Frank transparency initiative was welcomed by the stakeholders in the US, Islam and van Staden explored the relationship between NGOs and activists’ engagement on the comprehensiveness of the conflict mineral disclosure practices of the electronic reliant corporations. This study revealed that NGOs have been campaigning for the eradication of conflict minerals in electronic devices (produced by electronic-based industries)which are difficult for regulatory bodies to identify and control. This paper contributes to a corpus of ongoing conversations on the implications of NGOs activism and collaborative engagement on corporate disclosures and in sourcing for conflict-free practices.