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Impact of Social Media Sentiment on Compliance with Workplace Health and Safety Standards in the Bangladeshi Textile Industry

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Impact of Social Media Sentiment on Compliance with Workplace Health and Safety Standards in the Bangladeshi Textile Industry Submitted by Mohammad Mezbah UDDIN Submitted at Institute of International Management a.Univ.- Prof. Dr. Erna Szabo MBA Supervisor a.Univ.-Prof. Dr. Elke Schüßler “IMPACT OF SOCIAL MEDIA Co-Supervisor SENTIMENT ON COMPLIANCE WITH August 2020 WORKPLACE HEALTH AND SAFETY STANDARDS IN THE BANGLADESHI TEXTILE INDUSTRY” Master Thesis to obtain the academic degree of Master of Science in the Master’s Program General management JOHANNES KEPLER UNIVERSITY LINZ Altenberger Str. 69 4040 Linz, Austria www.jku.at DVR 0093696 STATUTORY DECLARATION I hereby declare that the thesis submitted is my own unaided work, that I have not used other than the sources indicated, and that all direct and indirect sources are acknowledged as references. This printed thesis is identical with the electronic version submitted. Place, Date Linz, 20.08.2020 ----------------------------------------------- Mohammad Mezbah UDDIN August 20, 2020 Mezbah 2/79 Acknowledgements First and foremost, I would love to thank my family members for their unconditional support since the very beginning of my studies, both from Bangladesh and Austria. I would like to express my deepest gratitude to a.Univ.- Prof. Dr. Erna Szabo MBA for her precious feedback on my work and for her constant encouragement throughout these thesis study. I would like to thank Univ. Prof. Dr. Elke Schüßler, who took over my mentoring and was helping me through the progress and finalizing of the thesis. I am truly thankful for my co-supervisor Univ. Prof. Dr. Elke Schüßler for her patience and persistent feedback throughout my writing, her guidance and experience did a big favour for my writing. In terms of research interview, I have to express my gratitude to the manager and executive of Interstoff Apparels Limited, Genesis Washing Limited and M&J Group as well as M&S Bangladesh Sourcing office and AUCHAN who allowed me several hours of their precious time to conduct interviews. Besides, I would love to thank all my ex-colleagues of the Interstoff Apparels Limited, who became great colleagues and friends’ supporters along the way. I also thank my friends back home and friends in Austria who showed support, enthusiasm, and in believing me, which gave me a major boost of motivation and inspiration. August 20, 2020 Mezbah 3/79 Table of Contents 1. Problem statement ................................................................................................................ 8 2. Introduction ........................................................................................................................... 9 Theoretical framework ............................................................................................................... 11 3. General sentiment in social media ...................................................................................... 11 3.1. Social media sentiment in workplace health and safety issues .................................... 14 3.2. Nature of news media coverage impact on MNC and RMG workplace health and safety .................................................................................................................................... 18 3.3. Sentiment of local RMG industries from different social media post ............................. 21 4. Methodology ....................................................................................................................... 24 4.1. Method of data collection - interviews .......................................................................... 25 4.2. Data analysis ............................................................................................................... 29 5. Findings .............................................................................................................................. 32 5.1. Workplace health and safety issue after the Rana Plaza tragedy ................................ 32 Incidents since 2005 (Before Rana Plaza) ........................................................ 38 Lack of monitoring ............................................................................................ 40 5.2. Impact of social media on workplace health and safety ............................................... 43 Accord, Alliance and other social organizations ................................................ 44 Fire and building safety..................................................................................... 48 5.3. Compensation ............................................................................................................. 56 6. Discussion .......................................................................................................................... 59 7. Limitations and further research .......................................................................................... 66 8. Conclusion .......................................................................................................................... 67 List of references ....................................................................................................................... 69 Appendix .................................................................................................................................... 77 August 20, 2020 Mezbah 4/79 Table of figures Figure 1: Concept of the thesis ................................................................................................... 8 Figure 2: Survey of U.S. adults ..................................................................................................13 Figure 3: News post from Facebook verified page .....................................................................21 Figure 4: Steps of qualitative research .......................................................................................25 Figure 5: Rana Plaza before and after the tragedy .....................................................................32 Figure 6: Tags of brands in Rana Plaza collapse .......................................................................35 Figure 7: Incidents since 2005 (Before Rana Plaza) ..................................................................39 Figure 8: After Rana Plaza few changes in RMG .......................................................................51 August 20, 2020 Mezbah 5/79 Table of tables Table 1: Facebook fan page of different organization’s about Rana Plaza .................................22 Table 2: YouTube documentary about Rana Plaza ....................................................................22 Table 3: Newspaper coding according title .................................................................................27 Table 4: Name of companies and candidates to be interviewed .................................................28 Table 5: Process of template .....................................................................................................30 Table 6: Preliminary codes and sub codes .................................................................................31 Table 7: Brands linked to Rana Plaza ........................................................................................37 Table 8: General sentiment in social media impact on workplace health and safety standard ....43 Table 9: Recommendation for brands and retailers ....................................................................54 Table 10: Recommendations for factory owners ........................................................................54 Table 11: Responsible authority and outcome ...........................................................................55 August 20, 2020 Mezbah 6/79 Abbreviations RMG- Ready-made garments ILO-International Labour Organization GSP-Generalized System of Preferences MNC-Multinational Corporation BGMEA-Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association MFA-Multi Fiber Arrangements WHO-World Health Organization CCC-Clean Clothes Campaign ILRF-International Labour Rights Forum WRC-Worker Rights Consortium BUET-Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology NTPA-Bangladesh National Tripartite Action Plan MoLE-Ministry of Labour and Employment CPD-Centre for Policy Dialogue RAJUK- Rajdhani Unnayan Kartripakkha BNBC-Bangladesh National Building Code CSR- Corporate Social Responsibilities PPE- personal protective equipment August 20, 2020 Mezbah 7/79 1. Problem statement The primary challenge faced by Bangladeshi Ready-Made Garments (RMG) industry occurred after the Rana Plaza incident, as an eight-story commercial building collapsed in Saver Bangladesh on April 24, 2013. 1133 out of approximate 5000 workers died and a further 2438 injured (Jacobs & Singhal, 2017). Bangladeshi RMG had previously experienced industrial accidents with the Tazreen Fashions fires killing 112 in 2012 and the Spectrum collapse of 2005 killing 64 people. After these incidents, the level of compliance got highest importance in the RMG industries. This thesis paper will tackle the substantial changes in the Bangladeshi RMG sector in-terms of compliance as well as health & safety issues after the Rana Plaza incidence due to the intervention of social media Figure 1. However, this compliance issue existed before, but after the Rana Plaza building collapsed April 24, 2013, it becomes more critical. RANA RMG EU/U.S. Compliance PLAZA Industry pressure issues Outcome Image Impact of social media Figure 1: Concept of the thesis Source: author own source Therefore, it has become a major concern for the United States (U.S.), European
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