Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-mlc7c Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-06T09:59:11.208Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

A Framework for Discussing Normative Theories of Business Ethics

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  23 January 2015

John Douglas Bishop
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract:

This paper carries forward the conceptual clarification of normative theories of business ethics ably begun by Hasnas in the January 1998 issue of BEQ. This paper proposes a normatively neutral framework for discussing and assessing such normative theories. Every normative theory needs to address these seven issues: it needs to specify a moral principle that identifies (1) recommended values and (2) the grounds for accepting those values. It also must specify (3) a decision principle that business people who accept the theory can use. It must determine (4) who the normative theory applies to and (5) whose interests need to be considered. It must also outline (6) in what contexts it applies, and (7) what legal and regulatory structures it assumes. Once clarified, this paper applies the framework to the normative versions of stockholder theory, stakeholder theory, and ISCT. It is concluded that ISCT is the most promising normative theory currently under discussion, but that there are some major issues that ISCT has not dealt with yet.

Type
Articles
Information
Business Ethics Quarterly , Volume 10 , Issue 3 , July 2000 , pp. 563 - 591
Copyright
Copyright © Society for Business Ethics 2000

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Beauchamp, T. L. and Bowie, N. E., eds. 1993. Ethical Theory and Business. Englewood Cliffs, N.J.: Prentice-Hall.Google Scholar
Bishop, J. D. 1995. Adam Smith’s invisible hand argument. Journal of Business Ethics 14: 165–180.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Boadway, R. and Bruce, N. 1984. Welfare Economics. Oxford: Basil Blackwell.Google Scholar
Cohen, G. A. 1986. The structure of proletarian unfreedom. In Roemer, 1986.Google Scholar
Conry, E. J. 1995. A critique of social contracts for business. Business Ethics Quarterly 5: 187–212.Google Scholar
Coyne, D. 1986. Corporate over-concentration. Policy Options Politiques, April, 1986, pp. 14–17.Google Scholar
Dasgupta, P. 1993. An Inquiry into Well-Being and Destitution. Oxford: Clarendon Press.Google Scholar
Di Norcia, V. 1998. Hard Like Water. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Donaldson, T. 1982. Corporations and Morality. Englewood Cliffs, N.J.: Prentice-Hall.Google Scholar
Donaldson, T. and Dunfee, T. W. 1994. Toward a unified conception of business ethics: integrated social contracts theory. Academy of Management Review 19: 252–284.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Donaldson, T. and Dunfee, T. W. 1995. Integrative social contracts theory: a communitarian conception of economic ethics. Economics and Philosophy 11: 85–112.Google Scholar
Donaldson, T. and Preston, L. E. 1995. The stakeholder theory of the corporation: concepts, evidence, and implications. Academy of Management Review 20: 65–91.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dunfee, T. W. and Donaldson, T. 1995. Contractarian business ethics: current status and next steps. Business Ethics Quarterly 5: 173–186.Google Scholar
Durkheim, E. 1893. The Division of Labour in Society. London: Macmillan.Google Scholar
Eatwell, J.; Milgate, M.; and Newman, P., eds. 1987. The Invisible Hand. New York: W.W. Norton.Google Scholar
Evan, W. M. and Freeman, R. E. 1988. A stakeholder theory of the modern corporation: Kantian capitalism. In Beauchamp, and Bowie, 1993.Google Scholar
Freeman, R. E. 1984. Strategic Management: A Stakeholder Approach. Boston: Pitman.Google Scholar
Freeman, R. E. and Evan, W. M. 1990. Corporate governance: a stakeholder interpretation. Journal of Behavioral Economics 19: 337–359.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Friedman, M. 1970. The social responsibility of business is to increase its profits. The New York Times Magazine, September 13, 1970. In Hoffman, and Moore, 1990.Google Scholar
Fukuyama, F. 1995. Trust. New York: Macmillan.Google Scholar
Giddens, A. 1971. Capitalism and Modern Society: an Analysis of the Writings of Marx, Durkheim and Max Weber. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gray, J. 1989. Against Cohen on proletarian unfreedom. In Paul, et al. 1989.Google Scholar
Haslett, D. W. 1994. Capitalism with Morality. Oxford: Clarendon.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hasnas, J. 1998. The normative theories of business ethics: a guide for the perplexed. Business Ethics Quarterly 8: 19–42.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Herman, S. W. and Schaefer, A. G. 1997. Western religious approaches to business ethics. Special issue of Journal of Business Ethics, vol. 7, no. 2.Google Scholar
Hoffman, W. M. and Fisher, J. V. 1990. Corporate responsibility: property and liability. In Hoffman, and Moore, 1990.Google Scholar
Hoffman, W. M. and Moore, J. M., eds. 1990. Business Ethics: Readings and Cases in Corporate Morality. New York: McGraw-Hill.Google Scholar
Jacobs, J. 1992. Systems of Survival: A Dialogue on the Moral Foundations of Commerce and Politics. New York: Random House.Google Scholar
Keeley, M. 1995. Continuing the social contract tradition. Business Ethics Quarterly 5: 241–256.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Korten, D. C. 1995. When Corporations Rule the World. West Hartford, Conn.: Kumarian and Berrett-Koehler.Google Scholar
Lippke, R. L. 1995. Radical Business Ethics. Lanham, Md.: Rowman and Littlefield.Google Scholar
Little, I. M. D. 1950. A Critique of Welfare Economics. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Madrick, J. 1995. The End of Affluence: The Causes and Consequences of America’s Economic Decline. New York: Random House.Google Scholar
McMahon, C. 1995. The political theory of organizations and business ethics. Philosophy and Public Affairs 1995: 292–313.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Michalos, A. C. 1988. A case for a progressive annual net worth tax. In Michalos, 1995.Google Scholar
Michalos, A. C. 1995. A Pragmatic Approach to Business Ethics. Thousand Oaks, Calif.: Sage.Google Scholar
Nelson, J. A. 1996. Feminism, Objectivity and Economics. London: Routledge.Google Scholar
Nozick, R. 1974. Anarchy, State and Utopia. New York: Basic Books.Google Scholar
Nussbaum, M. C. and Sen, A., eds. 1993. The Quality of Life. Oxford: Clarendon Press.Google Scholar
O’Neill, O. 1996. Towards Justice and Virtue: A Constructive Account of Practical Reasoning. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Paul, E. F.; Miller, F. D.; Paul, J. et al. 1989. Capitalism. Oxford: Basil Blackwell.Google Scholar
Pava, M. L. 1998. Developing a religiously grounded business ethics: a Jewish perspective. Business Ethics Quarterly 8: 65–84.Google Scholar
Quinn, D. P. and Jones, T. M. 1995. An agent morality view of business policy. Academy of Management Review 20: 22–42.Google Scholar
Roemer, J. E., ed. 1986. Analytical Marxism. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Roemer, J. E. 1996. Theories of Distributed Justice. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University.Google Scholar
Schwartz, M. S. 1998. Jewish business ethics. Lecture at York University, March 4, 1998.Google Scholar
Stewart, H. 1995. A critique of instrumental reason in economics. Economics and Philosophy 11: 57–83.Google Scholar
Sumner, L. W. 1996. Welfare, Happiness and Ethics. Oxford: Clarendon.Google Scholar
Thurow, L. C. 1976. Tax wealth, not income. New York Times Magazine, April, 1976, p. 11.Google Scholar
Waldron, J. 1988. The Right to Private Property. Oxford: Clarendon Press.Google Scholar