Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-ndw9j Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-06T01:18:33.772Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Ethical Standards for Business Lobbying: Some Practical Suggestions

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  23 January 2015

Abstract:

Rather than being inherently evil, business lobbying is a socially responsible activity which needs to be restrained by ethical standards. To be effective in a business environment, traditional ethical standards need to be translated into language which business persons can speak comfortably. Economical explanations must also be available to explain why ethical standards are appropriate in business. Eight such standards and their validating arguments are proposed with examples showing their use. Internal dialogues regarding the ethics of lobbying objectives and tactics will plausibly occur only in businesses which recognize social responsibility mandates. Public interest stakeholders could hasten this recognition by making use of information made available by the Lobbying Disclosure Act of 1995 to institute external dialogues regarding lobbying by specific businesses and industry groups . Given practical ethical standards and the information on business lobbying provided by the law, the press, corporate activists, consumers, pension fund managers and the public can apply pressure for ethical lobbying practices.

Type
Articles
Copyright
Copyright © Society for Business Ethics 1997

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

Birnbaum, Jeffrey H.The Lobbyists: How Influence Peddlers Work Their Ways in Washington. Times Books, New York. 1993.Google Scholar
Boatright, John R.Ethics and the Conduct of Business. Prentice Hall, Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey. 1993.Google Scholar
Bowen, Michael & Power, F. Clark. “The Moral Manager: Communicative Ethics and the Exxon Valdez Disaster,” Business Ethics Quarterly, Vol. 3, No. 2 (April) pp. 97115. 1993.Google Scholar
Carr, Albert Z.Is Business Bluffing Ethical?,” Harvard Business Review, 46 (January/February) pp. 143155. 1968.Google Scholar
DeGeorge, Richard T.Business Ethics. Third Edition. Macmillan, New York. 1990.Google Scholar
Dixit, Avinash & Nalebuff, Barry. Thinking Strategically. Norton, New York. 1991.Google Scholar
Friedman, Milton. “The Social Responsibility of Business is to Increase Its Profits,” New York Times Magazine 33 (September 13, 1970). 1970.Google Scholar
Hoch, David. “There Ought to be a Law: Dolphins Are Ethical Stakeholders Who Should Not Be Captured for Fun and Profit,” Journal of Legal Studies in Business, Vol. 4, No.1, pp. 123145. 1995.Google Scholar
Hoch, David & Hamilton, J. Brooke III. “Do Shareholder Resolutions Influence Corporate Ethics?,” Southeastern Journal of Legal Studies in Business, Vol. 3, No. 1 (Spring,), pp. 118. 1994.Google Scholar
Lee, Gary. “Even in War, Somebody’s Got to Read the Legislative Fine Print,” The Washington Post National Weekly Edition, (February 410), p. 15. 1991.Google Scholar
Lobbying Disclosure Act of 1995, P.L. 104–65, 109 Stat. 691, Approved Dec. 19, 1995.Google Scholar
Nash, Laura L. “Ethics Without the Sermon,” Harvard Business Review, (November-December) pp. 7990. 1981.Google Scholar
Pava, M. L. & Krausz, J.Criteria for Evaluating the Legitimacy of Corporate Social Responsibility Projects,” National Conference on Ethical Issues in Finance, University of Florida (January). 1995.Google Scholar
Rao, Spuma and Hamilton, J. Brooke III. “The Effect of Published Reports of Unethical Conduct on Stock Price,” The Journal of Business Ethics, 15: 13211330. 1996.Google Scholar
Reeves, Thomas C.The Life and Times of Joe McCarthy: A Biography. Stein, and Day, , New York, N.Y. pp. 630631. 1982.Google Scholar
Sagoff, Mark. “At the Shrine of Our Lady of Fatima, or Why Political Questions Are Not All Economic,” in VanDeVeer, Donald and Pierce, Christine (eds.), People, Penguins, and Plastic Trees: Issues in Environmental Ethics. Wadsworth Publishing Company, Belmont, CA. 1986.Google Scholar
Sagoff, Mark. “Zuckerman’s Dilemma: A Plea for Environmental Ethics,” Hastings Center Report, Vol. 21, No. 5 (September-October), pp. 3240. 1991.Google Scholar
Shaffer, T.L. and Shaffer, M.American Lawyers and Their Communities: Ethics in the Legal Profession, University of Notre Dame Press, Notre Dame Indiana. 1991.Google Scholar
Solomon, Robert C.Ethics and Excellence: Cooperation and Integrity in Business, Oxford University Press, New York. 1992.Google Scholar
Stone, Christopher D.Where the Law Ends: The Social Control of Corporate Behavior, Harper & Row, New York, N.Y. 1975.Google Scholar
Timber Salvage Act, formally cited as: Emergency Supplemental Appropriations for Additional Disaster Assistance, for Anti-Terrorism Initiatives, for Assistance in the Recovery From the Tragedy that Occurred at Oklahoma City, and Rescissions Act, 1995, P.L.104119, 109 Stat. 194, Approved July 22, 1995.Google Scholar
Velasquez, Manuel G.Business Ethics: Concepts and Cases, Third Edition. Prentice Hall, Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey. 1992.Google Scholar
Waters, J. A.Catch 20.5: Corporate Morality as an Organizational Phenomenon,” Organizational Dynamics, Spring. 1978.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Weber, Leonard J.Citizenship and Democracy: The Ethics of Corporate Lobbying,” Business Ethics Quarterly, Vol. 6, No. 2 (April), pp. 253259. 1996.Google Scholar
Werhane, Patricia. Adam Smith and His Legacy for Modern Capitalism, Oxford University Press, New York. 1991.Google Scholar
Whitmyer, C.Using Mindfulness to Find Meaningful Work,” in Claude, Whitmyer (ed.), Mindfulness and Meaningful Work: Explorations in Right Livelihood, pp. 251267, Parallax Press, Berkeley, California. 1994.Google Scholar
Wood, Donna J.Business and Society, 2nd Edition, Harper Collins, New York. 1994.Google Scholar