This thesis is guided by one overarching question:

How can Human Rights Due Diligence be reimagined in ways that meaningfully center rightsholders and advance justice in corporate practice?

To answer this, the dissertation addresses four sub-questions:

What are the limitations of current HRDD practices in recognizing and responding to the lived experiences and agency of rightsholders? (paper 1)

How can we reframe HRDD to reflect a more human- and rightsholder-centered understanding of rights and responsibilities? (paper 1 and paper 2)

How can deliberative, participatory processes within HRDD address power asymmetries and enhance legitimacy, particularly in contexts marked by conflict and injustice? (paper 2)

What do corporate narratives around HRDD reveal about corporations’ self- positioning, motivations, and accountability toward human rights? (paper 3)

PURPOSE AND CONTRIBUTION OF THIS THESIS

This dissertation responds to calls in the management literature for research that integrates theoretical depth with practical relevance (Wickert et al., 2020; Williams et al., 2024a). Following Davis’ (2015) call for “questions worth answering,” it engages with pressing normative and organizational challenges. It contributes to multiple literatures—BHR, CSR, organizational ethics, sustainability, and discourse analysis—by connecting insights across domains that are rarely in conversation.