'Stakeholder Perspectives on Transparency - Watchdogs, Guardians and Experts' Leadership, Organisations, Behaviour and Reputation Research Seminar

Professor Higgins' research focuses on how business organisations use language in their sustainability reports and how this shapes, but is also constrained by, the institutional environment. Most recently, he has been exploring transparency and issues of hypocrisy in reporting.

From 2020 to 2006 Professor Higgins was Co-Editor-in-Chief of the A-ranked Business and Society journal and was the 2021 Program Chair and 2023 Division Chair for the Social Issues in Management Division of the Academy of Management. He is also a fellow and former President and Conference Chair of the International Association for Business and Society and his work is published in Accounting, Auditing and Accountability, the Journal of Business Ethics, the Journal of Cleaner Production and Accounting Forum.

Professor Higgins has occupied a number of leadership roles at Deakin Business School and in universities across the Asia-Pacific region. For six years he led the Deakin MBA programme, before moving on to manage the School EdTech disruptors and educational innovations. In his former role as Associate Dean (International), he was involved in establishing a number of trans-national education partnerships and innovating the international student learning experience. He has been widely engaged in the School's Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business (AACSB) and the European Foundation for Management Development Quality Improvement System (EQUIS) accreditation efforts. In July 2026, Professor Higgins will take up the role of Dean of La Trobe Business School, La Trobe University, Australia.

The topic of this presentation is 'Stakeholder Perspectives on Transparency - Watchdogs, Guardians and Experts'. This seminar will explore how transparency is widely endorsed yet persistently questioned, particularly in contexts where it is used to address serious moral harms such as forced labour. Although often viewed in instrumental terms, transparency is also a normative practice through which responsibilities are articulated.

Professor Higgins examines transparency within the context of forced labour, drawing on insights from 10 civil society organisations engaged in modern slavery advocacy and reform. He explores why specialist stakeholders continue to demand transparency despite well documented doubts about its effectiveness. The findings show that apparent inconsistencies in transparency demands arise when stakeholders are assumed to be uniform in their roles and ethical orientations. In practice, stakeholders enact distinct ethical orientations - as watchdogs (accountability and justice), guardians (care and voice) and experts (responsibility and moral learning) - each shaping different expectations about what transparency ought to achieve.

The seminar is for an internal audience and will be held on 18 June 2026, 1:00pm, in room LG01 of the Henley Business School building, Whiteknights campus. For those unable to attend in person there is also the option to dial-in remotely via Microsoft Teams. If you are interested in joining, please contact Alex Baker on a.j.baker@henley.ac.uk

In addition to the seminar, Professor Higgins will lead a pair of expert session workshops. The first will be on 17 June 2026 at 1:00pm, titled 'Publishing Business and Society Research', and the second will be on 18 June at 2:15pm, titled 'Developing a Research Agenda - Roundtable with Early Career Researchers and PhD Students'.

Members of LOBR faculty may also request to book a one to one meeting with Professor Higgins. Appointments are available between 2:45pm to 4:45pm on 17 June 2026 (lasting 30 minutes) and 3:30pm to 4:30pm on 18 June 2026 (lasting 20 minutes). Slots are limited and will be allocated on a first-come, first-served basis. To arrange an appointment, please contact Alex Baker on a.j.baker@henley.ac.uk

LOBR research seminars are co-ordinated by Professor Bernd Vogel and Dr Anastasiya Saraeva.