Business and Human Rights: Policy and Practice in the Oil and Gas Industry

Building upon recent research on means-ends decoupling, we hypothesize how firm- and institutional-level factors predict human rights allegations by oil and gas firms in developing countries. We test this with a unique dataset and find, consistent with the means-ends decoupling literature, that firm-level initiatives such as the duration, breadth and strength of a firm’s corporate social responsibility or human rights policies, and participation in global governance initiatives, all make claims of corporate irresponsibility more–not less–likely. However, strong, democratic institutions in the firm’s home country decrease the likelihood that firms face allegations of irresponsible acts in host countries.