The results stand in contrast to the current political debate, in which leading representatives of conservative and liberal parties in particular reject stricter legal regulations.

According to the study, an average of 68% of respondents agree with an extension of the Supply Chain Due Diligence Act (LkSG) to all companies that sell products in Germany. The approval rate is even higher at 72% for the introduction of mandatory preventative measures along the entire supply chain and 78% for the possibility of civil claims for damages. There is also no indication that people with a conservative or liberal political self-assessment are on average less in favor of stricter legal regulations. Nevertheless, conservative and liberal parties in Germany in particular reject stricter supply chain laws or even supply chain laws in general. The results of the study now suggest that this rejection does not match the attitudes of their own potential voters.

The data basis for the study is a nationwide survey conducted in July and August 2023, in which 507 representatively selected people took part in a so-called stated choice experiment. Participants had to choose six times between two different versions of the law: the status quo of the LkSG and a hypothetical, stricter version.

"Support for social and ecological standards in global supply chains is, at least with regard to the time of the survey in 2023, much more broadly anchored than the political debate currently suggests," emphasizes Prof. Dr. Andreas Ziegler from the Institute of Economics at the University of Kassel. "Our results therefore point to a contradiction between the party line and the will of the voters - this should be taken more into account in political decision-making," says Ziegler.

On the Supply Chain Act:
The current LkSG obliges companies to actively review their supply chains for compliance with labor rights standards, human rights and environmental requirements and to document the results accordingly. In Germany, the law has applied to companies with at least 3,000 employees since January 1, 2023 and to companies with at least 1,000 employees since January 1, 2024. In 2024, the European Union also passed a supply chain law; however, the deadline originally planned for the beginning of 2025 was postponed to June 26, 2028. There is currently a controversial debate in the German Bundestag about the possible abolition of the LkSG.

The full discussion paper is available online: https: //www.uni-marburg.de/en/fb02/research-groups/economics/macroeconomics/research/magks-joint-discussion-papers-in-economics/papers/2025-papers/09-2025.pdf

You can find the article here.