Dr. Kernaghan Webb
Overview
Dr. Kernaghan Webb is an Associate Professor in the Law and Business department. He teaches at the undergraduate and graduate levels on law and business issues, including corporate social responsibility and consumer protection. He is also the Director of the Toronto Metropolitan University Institute for the Study of Corporate Social Responsibility. He holds Bachelors, Masters, and PhD degrees in law. Dr. Webb’s teaching, research and action has focused on innovative approaches to regulation, including the role of market-based non-coercive instruments (codes, standards, certification, voluntary approaches) in support of conventional state-based regulatory approaches (at the national and international level), and the regulation of the voluntary sector. The intersection of corporate social responsibility and the law is of particular interest, both in his research and teaching.
Dr. Webb has published extensively on regulatory and CSR issues, and his work on regulatory offences has been cited and followed by the Supreme Court of Canada. Dr. Webb has written on consumer protection/Competition Act issues. He has extensive background and experience in public policy, law, and regulation.
Law, regulation, compliance, corporate social responsibility, sustainability, standards, and voluntary codes.
| Research (Select) |
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| Webb, K., (2012), “ISO 26000: Bridging the Public/Private Divide in Transnational Business Governance Interactions,” in J. W. Cioffi and P. Zumbansen, (eds.), Osgoode Hall Law School, Comparative Research in Law and Political Economy (CLPE) Research Paper Series, Research Paper #21. |
| Webb, K., (2012), “Multi-level Corporate Responsibility and the Mining Sector: the Canadian Experience in Latin America,” Business and Politics, 14:3, pp. 1-42 |
| Webb, K., (2012),”Political risk insurance, CSR and the mining sector: An illustration of the regulatory effects of contracts”, International Journal of Law and Management, 54:5, pp. 394 – 415. |
| Helms, W., C. Oliver, & K. Webb, (2012), “Antecedents of Settlement on a New Institutional Practice: Negotiation of the ISO 26000 Standard on Social Responsibility”, The Academy of Management Journal, 55:5, pp. 1120-1145. |
| Webb, K. (2012), “Addressing Misleading Advertising in the Canadian Telecommunication Industry: An Evolving Story,” Canadian Competition Law Review Vol. 26, No. 1 (Spring, 2013), pp. 78 – 114. |
| Webb, K., (2012),“Corporate Social Responsibility: The Canadian Experience” in P. Kissick, (ed.), Business Ethics: Concepts, Cases and Canadian Perspectives, (Toronto: Emond Montgomery), pp. 75 – 89. |
| Webb, K., (2011), “Corporate Social Responsibility and the Law: Learning from the Experience of Canadian mining companies in Latin America”, in J. Sagebien & N. Lindsay, (eds.), Governance Ecosystems: CSR in the Latin American Mining Sector, (New York: Palgrave-Macmillan, 2011), pp. 47 – 63. |
| Webb, K., (2011), “Corporate Citizenship and Private Regulatory Regimes: Understanding New Governance Roles and Functions,” in I. Pies & P. Koslowski, (eds.), Corporate Citizenship and New Governance: the Political Role of Corporations, (New York: Springer, 2011), pp. 39-58. |
| Professional Contributions (Select) |
Dr. Webb has been appointed Special Advisor to the UN Global Compact regarding the ISO 26000 social responsibility standard. He is the co-chair of the Centre for Excellence on CSR, one of the four pillars of the federal Extractive Sector CSR Strategy. He has served on the Board of Directors of several different organizations. Dr. Webb regularly provides advice and/or acts as a consultant to governments/inter-governmental bodies, the private sector and civil society on regulatory and CSR issues. Dr. Webb played a pivotal role in the development of ISO’s standard on social responsibility, ISO 26000. Dr. Webb has acted as chair/convenor of several ISO international standard working groups, including ISO 10001 (codes of conduct), ISO 10003 (dispute resolution), and ISO 10008 (business to consumer electronic commerce), and has participated in other international and national standards committees (including mirror committees). Currently he sits on the Mirror Committee concerning the upcoming ISO standard pertaining to anti-bribery management systems and sustainable procurement. In 2012, he was awarded the National Award of Excellence by the Standards Council of Canada for his standards work. Prior to joining Ryerson University, Dr. Webb was a Senior Legal Policy Advisor and Chief of Research for the Office of Consumer Affairs at the federal Department of Industry and before that he was a consultant acting on behalf of the Law Reform Commission of Canada. |
Standards Council of Canada, National Award of Excellence, 2012 for standards work.