CSR and the Constitutive Role of Law: Harnessing Social Norms for Labour Law Enforcement

Abstract This article explores how international labour law can harness social norms for the enforcement of international labour standards within private companies. By doing so, it provides a particular take on the ‘constitutive’ role of the law in shaping societal norms and economic activities. Such reliance on societal enforcement mechanisms gains particular relevance in the realm of global labour governance. With the dominance of private compliance initiatives, the law can regain influence by internalising its norms as social norms within companies, even when, strictly speaking, international law is not intended to oblige these actors. Accordingly, the article argues that international labour law holds unique cognitive and normative capacities that can shape actors’ beliefs and expectations, promoting a universal understanding of what shall be considered as the appropriate behaviour in the realm of labour. Once international labour standards become the social benchmark for evaluating companies’ codes of conduct, compliance with these norms becomes key to companies’ reputation and market access. At the same time, the transmission of legal norms to the company level is not straightforward. The article thus puts forward an evolutionary path where international labour law can induce desirable learning processes towards the gradual emergence of a social norm among companies on compliance with its legal requirements.