Business Ethics at the Millennium

2000 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
pp. 169-180 ◽  
Author(s):  
R. Edward Freeman
Keyword(s):  
Business Ethics ◽  
Ethical Theory ◽  
Social Issues ◽  
Business Schools ◽  
Social Impacts ◽  
Business And Society ◽  
Social Scientists ◽  
The Social

Abstract:Business ethics, as a discipline, appears to be at a crossroads. Down one avenue lies more of the same: mostly philosophers taking what they know of ethics and ethical theory and applying it to business. There is a long tradition of scholars working in the area known as “business and society” or “social issues in management.” Most of these scholars are trained as social scientists and teach in business schools. Their raison d’etre has been admirable: trying to get executives and students of business to understand the social impacts of business and to see business in broad, societal terms.

General Introduction: The Elusive Boundary Between Fact And Value

1994 ◽  
Vol 4 (2) ◽  
pp. 111-112 ◽  
Author(s):  
William C. Frederick
Keyword(s):  
Business Ethics ◽  
Annual Meeting ◽  
Empirical Research ◽  
Social Issues ◽  
Las Vegas ◽  
General Introduction ◽  
Original Order ◽  
Congressional Record ◽  
The Social ◽  
Order Of Presentation

The question of how far, if at all, values invade, or should invade, the realm of empirical research is the focus of this issue of Business Ethics Quarterly. Readers will find a variety of answers and perspectives, along with some illustrative examples that support one or another of the possible views. Feelings run high on this topic, and they occasionally break through the normally staid atmosphere that one finds in most academic journals. That in itself may tell something about whether inquiry may be safely cordoned from a contaminating normative orientation. In form of presentation also, some of the articles selected by the editors vary from the conventional design. Essays and opinion pieces take their place alongside more formal presentations. Also included are two discussant papers.The original inspiration for this collection was a symposium presented during the 1992 annual meeting of the Social Issues in Management division of The Academy of Management. Held in Las Vegas, more than one attendee enjoyed the irony of business ethicists rubbing shoulders with gamblers and other related exotica found in Sin City. The symposium papers are grouped together and, with one exception, appear in the original order of presentation. They are followed by the two discussants’ comments. It is fair to say that in the intervening period, all of these authors have had second, or even third, thoughts and have revised their initial declarations somewhat. This echoes a time-honored practice in the U. S. Congress of allowing members to “extend their remarks” for the (official) Congressional Record, which is another way of giving politicians a chance to tell it the way they wished they had said it in the first place. That’s not bad in the case of academics also, if someone is careful to see that the “extensions” do not extend too far, and in that sense the editors have done what they could. The lead paper, though not part of the earlier symposium, is closely related to the general theme and is included for that reason.

The Powers and Perils of Societal Advertising

2020 ◽  
pp. 027614672097826
Author(s):  
Christos Livas
Keyword(s):  
Social Issues ◽  
Social Consequences ◽  
Sufficient Evidence ◽  
Business And Society ◽  
Best Interest ◽  
Value System ◽  
Marketing Process ◽  
The Social ◽  
Social Causes ◽  
Effective Contribution

Despite the lack of consensus in existing literature regarding the societal functions of advertising, brands have been increasingly incorporating aspects of their stance on key social issues and/or contributions to societal wellbeing, into advertising messages. However, notable failures of contemporary societal advertising campaigns indicate that their effectiveness in achieving marketing objectives and advancing social causes remains ambiguous. To appraise the commercial and social consequences of societal advertising, the present research proceeds to examine its interrelationship with the social value system and conceptual differences with similar concepts. Although advertising is able to reflect and also reinforce a subset of existing social values, effective contribution to positive social change is likely to necessitate synergies between elements of the entire marketing process. Overall, given its risks and limitations, there is not sufficient evidence to posit that the practice of societal advertising is always for the best interest of business and society.

Institutional Logics in the Study of Organizations: The Social Construction of the Relationship between Corporate Social and Financial Performance

2011 ◽  
Vol 21 (3) ◽  
pp. 409-444 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marc Orlitzky
Keyword(s):  
Business Ethics ◽  
Financial Performance ◽  
Corporate Social Performance ◽  
Social Issues ◽  
Meta Analysis ◽  
Institutional Logics ◽  
Business And Society ◽  
Organization Studies ◽  
Corporate Social ◽  
The Relationship

ABSTRACT:This study examines whether the empirical evidence on the relationship between corporate social performance (CSP) and corporate financial performance (CFP) differs depending on the publication outlet in which that evidence appears. This moderator meta-analysis, based on a total sample size of 33,878 observations, suggests that published CSP-CFP findings have been shaped by differences in institutional logics in different subdisciplines of organization studies. In economics, finance, and accounting journals, the average correlations were only about half the magnitude of the findings published in Social Issues in Management, Business Ethics, or Business and Society journals (mean corrected correlation coefficientof .22 vs. .49, respectively). Specifically, economists did not find null or negative CSP-CFP correlations, and average findings published in general management outlets (= .41) were closer to Social Issues in Management, Business Ethics, and Business and Society results than to findings reported in economics, finance, and accounting journals.

SIM as a Generator of Systematics and Theory Logics, and a Science of Design and Repair

2017 ◽  
Vol 58 (7) ◽  
pp. 1448-1478
Author(s):  
Barry M. Mitnick
Keyword(s):  
Social Issues ◽  
Normative Theory ◽  
Fundamental Question ◽  
Business And Society ◽  
Ethical Theories ◽  
Practical Solution ◽  
The Social ◽  
Key Issues ◽  
Solution Design ◽  
Systematic Understanding

In Sandra Waddock’s article “Taking Stock of SIM” in this journal, she identifies key issues in the work of the Social Issues in Management (SIM) Division of the Academy of Management. This article challenges her analysis of SIM scholarship and her arguments of what is necessary for the division to progress. Scholarship in SIM should emphasize two key streams: First, scholars in SIM should seek to develop a science of social forensics, design, and social repair—in essence, develop a method of problem diagnosis, an approach to practical solution design, and a systematic understanding of the selection and implementation of social repair—in other words, seek to understand how to systematically troubleshoot and engineer solutions to fundamental issues in the business and society interface. The second stream, which informs the first, involves the development of original, core, transferable systematics that can “travel”—be the source of understanding-generating analysis—in other disciplines, including the topical regions of the Academy of Management. The article argues that laying claim to and developing true normative theory applicable across disciplines should be a distinctive identifier of work in SIM. The article concludes with an illustration of how systematics can be applied to address the literature’s failure to even seek to understand the logic underlying the standard ethical theories. These theories are properly seen as complements rather than substitutes. We need to ask and answer the “fundamental question of business ethics”: What should I do? .We suggest an approach labeled “integrative ethics,” employing ethical frames/injunctive formats, framed contexts for action, and the distribution of desires.

The Social Function of Business Ethics

2000 ◽  
Vol 10 (4) ◽  
pp. 821-843 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ronald Jeurissen
Keyword(s):  
Business Ethics ◽  
Critical Reflection ◽  
Social Function ◽  
Theoretical Framework ◽  
Functional Approach ◽  
Business And Society ◽  
Business Operations ◽  
The Social ◽  
Key Concepts ◽  
Bureaucratic Institutions

Abstract:Business ethics serves the important social function of integrating business and society, by promoting the legitimacy of business operations, through critical reflection. Although the social function of business ethics is implicit in leading business ethics foundation theories, it has never been presented in a systematic way. This article sets out to fill this theoretical lacuna, and to explore the theoretical potentials of a functional approach to business ethics. Key concepts from Parsonian functionalistic sociology are applied to establish the social integrative function of business ethics. This produces a theoretical framework for business ethics that provides strong theoretical arguments against often-heard criticisms of business ethics. Many of these criticisms are ideological in nature, in that they systematically play down the importance of integrative functions in the business-society relationship, on the grounds of unrealistic assumptions about the performance of economic and bureaucratic institutions. However, business ethics itself can also become ideological, if it forgets that the conditions for the application of ethics to business are not always ideal as well.

Social Issues in Management: Comments on the Past and Future

2016 ◽  
Vol 58 (7) ◽  
pp. 1406-1412 ◽  
Author(s):  
Archie B. Carroll
Keyword(s):  
Social Issues ◽  
International Association ◽  
The Other ◽  
Business And Society ◽  
Special Issue ◽  
Name Change ◽  
The Past ◽  
Program Chair ◽  
The Social ◽  
Intellectual Level

This essay comments on the past and the future of the Social Issues in Management (SIM) Division of the Academy of Management (AOM). The essay addresses the two major questions posed to the commentators on this special issue: First, does the past of the SIM Division provide any clues as to its future? Second, where is the SIM Division going or where should it be going? The author has been a member of SIM since 1971 and served as program chair in 1975 and division chair in 1976 to 1977. SIM is certainly a field at the community and administrative levels, and you could argue that SIM is a discipline, though we are interdisciplinary. It is not as certain that we are unique or distinctive at the intellectual level because we are not always that different in kind or quality from what is being done elsewhere in AOM, and there are more and more scholars in other divisions now working on topics that we once worked on exclusively. However, it is equally unlikely that many of the other AOM divisions could meet a test of intellectual uniqueness. The essay emphasizes some ideas that might help improve the intellectual rigor of the SIM meetings, and the value of alliances with Society for Business Ethics (SBE) and International Association for Business and Society (IABS). A division name change, even if desirable, is not a compelling issue.

scholarly journals Social responsibility development in the conditions of globalization: financial flows focus

2019 ◽  
Vol 67 ◽  
pp. 06042
Author(s):  
Oksana Portna ◽  
Svitlana Kachula ◽  
Liubov Lysiak
Keyword(s):  
Social Responsibility ◽  
Social Relations ◽  
Social Issues ◽  
System Development ◽  
The State ◽  
Business And Society ◽  
Socially Responsible ◽  
Financial Flows ◽  
The Social ◽  
Wide Range

The article deals with social responsibility system development of the state, business, society. It is shown that the characteristic of development and the result of social responsibility of the state, business, society is the high quality of socio-economic development, balancing the interests of all participants in social relations. Modern complex social relations actualize social issues both within individual countries and in the world dimension. The problems of social responsibility of the state, business, and society concern a wide range of economic, social, financial, environmental and political aspects. The article presents generalized standards and conditions for the development of socially responsible state, business, and society, which are mediated by financial flows. A meaningful characteristic of state, business and society social responsibility development is the social relations institutional participants financial flows focus, which should be considered in unity with the global system and relevant world processes during globalization. The problems of financial flows direction in the conditions of financial and economic globalization are considered. In Ukraine, social responsibility of the state, business, society is non-systemic, fragmentary, situational.

‘Dignified’: An Exegetical Soteriology of Divine Honour

2013 ◽  
Vol 66 (1) ◽  
pp. 74-87 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jason Borges
Keyword(s):  
Old Testament ◽  
Social Relations ◽  
Social Issues ◽  
Christian Theology ◽  
Social Scientists ◽  
Salvation History ◽  
1 Peter ◽  
The Social ◽  
Social Theories ◽  
The Common

AbstractSocial scientists in disparate fields are now employing the construct of honour to ameliorate various social problems, such as immorality, failed states, international discord, poverty and mental illness. Moreover, historians of global religion cite Christianity's shift towards cultures shaped by the values of honour and shame. Despite this growing prominence of honour in social theories and the emergence of Christianity in honour–shame cultures, the notion of honour remains absent from theological discourse. In light of these global realities, we explore how God's active transformation of humanity from shame to honour can interpret both salvation-history and Christian theology. To this end I first explore the nature of humanity's problem of shame before God, using anthropological and biblical insights. Throughout the Old Testament, God's covenant initiatives with Abram, Moses and David, along with the common socio-literary pattern of God exalting a servant from unjust shame, reveals the dignified status God intends for humanity. God's programme to restore people from shame to honour climaxes in Jesus, who embodies honour in the incarnation, mediates dignity to the marginalised by healings and public fellowship, elaborates God's new code of honour which reinterprets social stigmas, and procures an exalted status for all peoples by atoning for shame and resurrecting to exaltation. Romans and 1 Peter are interpreted in their socio-historic contexts as apostolic instruments which expound the social implications of God's honour code. To unify the fractured Romans for the upcoming Spanish mission, Paul confronts social imperialism by replacing false honour claims with God's status now available by faith through grace in Christ. Meanwhile, 1 Peter assures maligned Christians of their exalted status and outlines honourable social relations. Then, in closing, we examine a soteriology of honour diachronically and systematically. In particular, how: biblical metaphors symbolise believers’ status transposition, group incorporation is key to New Testament soteriology, Eastern Orthodoxy's doctrine of theosis articulates the infusion of divine status, and other theological categories could be interpreted through honour-shame social values. These reflections towards an exegetical soteriology of divine honour are offered as an initial theological platform for addressing social issues where honour values prevail.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document