Modern slavery is more than a moral failure

4 September 2025

Business School, Business and economy, Sustainable impact

Modern slavery is everywhere around us in New Zealand, from restaurant waiters, nail bar technicians, and seasonal fruit pickers to those on international student visas. Modern slavery is one of the most pressing human rights issues of our time.

Despite its devastating impact on millions of lives, business research on modern slavery remains underdeveloped, fragmented, and largely qualitative. This research is a good thing, but it doesn't always allow us to discover the extent of the problem or whether our preventative measures are working.

The moral imperative to act is clear, but the academic and corporate communities have yet to build a robust, evidence-based understanding of what modern slavery is, how it manifests in business contexts, and how it can be measured and mitigated.

Without clarity about what modern slavery entails, we cannot build reliable measures of its existence. And without reliable measures, we can't test whether what we are doing to prevent it is successful.

Our recent review of 110 international studies across 69 business journals from 2013 to 2024 reveals a troubling lack of clarity and consistency about what modern slavery means or how to study it.

About 40 percent of studies fail to define the term at all, while others rely on vague definitions that list forms of exploitation, such as forced labour or human trafficking, without establishing clear boundaries. If we want to stop modern slavery, we need meaningful research, policy development, and to hold businesses accountable. And that depends on clear definition of what it is, a business-focused definition of modern slavery which could be exploitations in the workplace, where workers are underpaid and can't leave the job.

This definition is grounded in three essential characteristics of modern slavery: coercion, workplace context, and underpayment. Those characteristics align with legislative frameworks and empirical realities. It also provides a clear conceptual foundation for future large-scale numbers-driven research, which is sorely needed.

Without clarity about what modern slavery entails, we cannot build reliable measures of its existence. And without reliable measures, we can't test whether what we are doing to prevent it is successful.

Our review found only 9.4 percent of studies tried to operationalise modern slavery in measurable terms. Most of these focused on country-level indicators, such as the Global Slavery Index or media coverage. Measures specific to individual firms, such as supply chain slavery risk or allegations of involvement, are even rarer in research studies and are often inconsistent.

This lack of empirical evidence, and which organisations may be involved, limits our ability to assess how effective anti-slavery legislation is, such as the UK Modern Slavery Act or Australia's Modern Slavery Act. It also hampers investors, regulators, and NGOs from identifying high-risk firms or regions, allocating resources effectively, or tracking progress.

Modern slavery is enabled by a complexity of social and economic factors, but also business imperatives. We have a moral obligation to identify and prevent modern slavery and prosecute those who are enslaving. We can do this.

We identified six promising data sources that can support rigorous, large-scale quantitative research into modern slavery.

• Corporate disclosures: Modern slavery statements and sustainability reports offer insights into how firms perceive and address slavery risks. Though these disclosures can be strategic or superficial, they are publicly available and amenable to textual analysis.
• Sustainability ratings: ESG (Environmental, Social, and Governance) ratings agencies such as ISS ESG and Refinitiv provide structured data on forced labour policies, controversies, and risk exposure. These datasets are ready to use and support cross-country comparisons, though they come at a cost and require careful interpretation.
• News and social media: Media coverage and NGO posts can reveal allegations and public perceptions of modern slavery. These sources need robust filtering to avoid misinformation but can also be timely and independent sources of strong information.
• Government and international data: Bodies such as the International Labour Organisation and national referral mechanisms offer country-level statistics on forced labour and victim identification. These are accessible and credible but often lack company-level granularity.
• Satellite imagery: Remote sensing can identify high-risk sites, such as brick kilns in South Asia, offering innovative ways to estimate prevalence in hard-to-reach areas.
• Primary data collection: Action research and fieldwork with firms and NGOs can yield rich, context-specific insights, though such opportunities are rare and resource-intensive.

Together, these sources offer a toolkit to move beyond theory and into practice. By combining conceptual clarity with methodological rigour, we can begin to answer critical questions. Which industries and regions are most at risk? What corporate practices are effective in reducing slavery? How do regulatory interventions impact firm behaviour?

For business leaders, the implications are equally significant. A clear definition of modern slavery helps firms assess their own risks, design targeted interventions, and communicate transparently with stakeholders.

For investors, it enables the development of red-flag indicators and ESG metrics that go beyond box-ticking. For policymakers, it provides the evidence base needed to refine legislation and ensure it is enforced.

Modern slavery is not just a moral failure. It's a failure of measurement, accountability, and imagination. If we are serious about eradicating it, we must treat it not only as a humanitarian crisis but as a research and governance challenge. That means moving beyond rhetoric and into the realm of data, definitions, and disciplined inquiry.

Charl de Villiers is Professor of Accounting at the University of Auckland Business School.

He is also on the steering group of Juncture: Dialogues on Inclusive Capitalism, a Business School research centre exploring how capitalism can better serve people and planet, through research, education and collaboration.

Ending modern slavery is a target of Sustainable Development Goal 8, and University of Auckland is chair of the United Nations Academic Impact Hub for Sustainable Development Goal 8 (SDG 8). Juncture is leading this work.

This article reflects the opinion of the author and not necessarily the view of Waipapa Taumata Rau University of Auckland.

This article was first published on Newsroom, Modern slavery is not just a moral failure, 4 August, 2025.

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