From constructive ambiguity to escalating commitment: the evolution of the Bangladesh accord as a transnational institution for collective action

Journal article

We investigate a core challenge in building multi-stakeholder institutions for collective action: constructive ambiguity – the deliberate use of imprecise language on a contested issue – is often needed to overcome conflict and enable agreement among parties. This initially enabling characteristic may complicate implementation when ambiguous commitments must be translated into concrete actions. To examine this challenge, we draw on an eight-year study of the Bangladesh Accord for Fire and Building Safety among unions, NGOs and 200+ company signatories to end the series of deadly incidents in the Bangladesh garment sector. Despite the risk of diluting the agreement during implementation, we reveal a multi-phase political process that triggered a reinforcing process of escalating commitment, leading to the institution’s expansion in scale and scope. This involved signatories negotiating more stringent commitments on the one hand and stakeholder dynamics activating cascading layers of commitment enforcement on the other, driving signatories toward deeper institutional tiein with the collective action institution. The process results in transforming constructive ambiguity into a catalyst for developing a robust collective action institution. We develop a model that explains how collective rationality can emerge and direct private interests toward collective ends to resolve transnational collective action problems.

Authors: Reinecke, J; Donaghey, J

• Publication status: Published
• Peer review status: Peer reviewed
• Publisher: SAGE Publications
• Journal: Administrative Science Quarterly
• Publication date: 2025-04-20
• Acceptance date: 2025-01-02
• DOI: 10.1177/00018392251331027
• EISSN: 1930-3815
• ISSN: 0001-8392
• Language: English
• Keywords: alliances; conflict and cooperation; work; organizational theory; interorganizational relations; sustainability