The scene is not hard to imagine. A young Bangladeshi woman walks into a room and sits in the chair. In front of her, a representative from the buyer of her employer’s produce sits, attempting to look amiable. The interview proceeds, with the buyer representative asking about her work hours and her pay.

As the young woman reports on her 80-hour week, the buyer asks: “Are you familiar with our code of conduct?” Although it has been hanging in the front hall for the past two years, the young woman responds with silence. She does not know what it is.

This fictitious scenario is indirectly described through the results of a recent study sponsored by the World Bank. Looking for sustainable means of implementing corporate social responsibility in supply chains, interviews with nearly 200 workers in four countries were conducted. The World Bank observed that the workers demonstrated an overall lack of awareness of codes.

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