Corporate social accountability: Examining the impacts of ethical purchasing policies on Canadian public institutions

Insufficient responsibility by corporations, where the social and environmental consequences of their practices permits abuse in the workplace, is widespread. To prevent this, Canadian universities and municipalities are developing Ethical Purchasing Policies (EPPs), but considerable uncertainty exists about how to initiate effective EPPs with corporate compliance. This project utilized an Action Research methodology to learn what questions could best be answered by experts engaged in E PP implementation, and to analyse the results of their deliberations at a 3 day conference tilted "Ethical Purchasing, Human Rights and Public Policy Initiatives". Three categories were identified which helped to move EPPs forward – Standardization, Collaboration and Education. Two years later, key personnel from the 5 institutions with EPPs that attended the conference were interviewed regarding outcomes, implementation, compliance and accountability of corporations involved – and each contributed to favourable outcomes of EPPs, especially corporate social accountability.