Corporate wrongdoing in International Business: Exploring emerging country firms' involvement in human rights controversies

Controversies related to workers’ rights or abuses of the right to health of communities living in close proximity to industrial production are unfortunately not uncommon. Anecdotal and case-study evidence from all over the world shows how firms activities can produce significant negative externalities caused by their contamination. Cases where companies have been complicit or direct perpetrators of eminent violations of human rights are frequently spotted by the press or human rights organizations. This dissertation is the result of a study on which I worked during my three-years as PhD candidate. My interest arises from the will to contribute to the management and international business (IB) literature, investigating under which circumstances firms and especially multinational corporations (MNCs), can be detrimental to society by enacting wrongful business conducts that have negative impacts on a wide set of universal human rights.