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Ideology and the Economic Social Contract in a Downsizing Environment

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  23 January 2015

George W. Watson ,
Jon M. Shepard ,
Carroll U. Stephens  and
John C. Christman
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Abstract:

By combining normative philosophy and empirical social science, we craft a research framework for assessing differential expectations embodied in normative conceptions of the economic social contract in the United States. We argue that there are distinct views of such a contract grounded in individualist and communitarian philosophical ideologies. We apply this framework to organizational downsizing, postulating that certain human resource practices, in combination with the respective ideological orientations, will affect perceptions of the justice of downsizing policies.

Type
Articles
Information
Business Ethics Quarterly , Volume 9 , Issue 4 , October 1999 , pp. 659 - 672
Copyright
Copyright © Society for Business Ethics 1999

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