The ‘doux commerce’ thesis holds that commerce acts as a civilising force, contributing to the advancement and well-being of societies by inculcating certain core moral values in individuals (such as honesty, tolerance and fair-dealing). This idea has a venerable history. However, I suggest that it faces a particular challenge in the current era in light of examples of systemic misbehaviour by global companies. This paper explores the nature of this challenge, taking the events around the financial crisis of 2007-8 as a case study, and suggests that if we are to preserve the idea that commerce contributes to the common good then greater mechanisms of constraint on the worst excesses of business behaviour will be needed. In particular, I argue that we must recognise the need for all firms to have a social purpose and suggest that the ‘social licence to operate’ framework, familiar from the mining and extraction sectors, could be used to provide crucial leverage on the behaviour of multinational firms.
{"title":"The thesis of “doux commerce” and the social licence to operate framework","authors":"E. Borg","doi":"10.1111/beer.12279","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/beer.12279","url":null,"abstract":"The ‘doux commerce’ thesis holds that commerce acts as a civilising force, contributing to the advancement and well-being of societies by inculcating certain core moral values in individuals (such as honesty, tolerance and fair-dealing). This idea has a venerable history. However, I suggest that it faces a particular challenge in the current era in light of examples of systemic misbehaviour by global companies. This paper explores the nature of this challenge, taking the events around the financial crisis of 2007-8 as a case study, and suggests that if we are to preserve the idea that commerce contributes to the common good then greater mechanisms of constraint on the worst excesses of business behaviour will be needed. In particular, I argue that we must recognise the need for all firms to have a social purpose and suggest that the ‘social licence to operate’ framework, familiar from the mining and extraction sectors, could be used to provide crucial leverage on the behaviour of multinational firms.","PeriodicalId":47954,"journal":{"name":"Business Ethics-A European Review","volume":"38 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":4.8,"publicationDate":"2020-03-06","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"85704110","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Leading with moral courage: The interplay of guilt and courage on perceived ethical leadership and group organizational citizenship behaviors","authors":"Juliana Mansur, Filipe Sobral, Gazi Islam","doi":"10.1111/beer.12270","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/beer.12270","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":47954,"journal":{"name":"Business Ethics-A European Review","volume":"67 1","pages":"587-601"},"PeriodicalIF":4.8,"publicationDate":"2020-02-19","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"79961485","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"A path to altruism: Investigating the effects of brand origin and message explicitness in CR‐M campaigns","authors":"Hongjoo Woo, Michelle L. Childs, Seeun Kim","doi":"10.1111/beer.12269","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/beer.12269","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":47954,"journal":{"name":"Business Ethics-A European Review","volume":"1 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":4.8,"publicationDate":"2020-02-13","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"89715691","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Amid the growth of scholarly research on environmental workplace behaviors, two limitations stand out. First, there has been scant research on the cross‐level effects of organizational‐level determinants on individual employee environmental behaviors using a methodologically appropriate multilevel analytic approach. Second, there has been an overwhelming focus on voluntary, as opposed to task‐related, employee environmentally friendly behaviors. In addressing these limitations, this field study (N = 615 U.S.‐based employees nested in 51 organizations) makes a theoretical and empirical contribution to the literature, specifically by linking the dimensions of organizational‐level environmental orientation with individual‐level employee environmental in‐role (i.e., task‐related) behaviors using multilevel analysis. The results indicate that organizational internal environmental orientation is positively related to employee recycling behavior. Managerial status exerts a moderating effect, such that the positive relationship between internal environmental orientation and energy‐saving behavior is stronger among managers than among non‐managers. Furthermore, an organization's external environmental orientation has an unequivocal positive relationship only with employee energy‐saving behavior. The theoretical and practical implications of the findings are discussed.
{"title":"Organizational Environmental Orientation and Employee Environmental In‐Role Behaviors: A Cross‐Level Study","authors":"Rommel O. Salvador, Alex Burciaga","doi":"10.1111/beer.12241","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/beer.12241","url":null,"abstract":"Amid the growth of scholarly research on environmental workplace behaviors, two limitations stand out. First, there has been scant research on the cross‐level effects of organizational‐level determinants on individual employee environmental behaviors using a methodologically appropriate multilevel analytic approach. Second, there has been an overwhelming focus on voluntary, as opposed to task‐related, employee environmentally friendly behaviors. In addressing these limitations, this field study (N = 615 U.S.‐based employees nested in 51 organizations) makes a theoretical and empirical contribution to the literature, specifically by linking the dimensions of organizational‐level environmental orientation with individual‐level employee environmental in‐role (i.e., task‐related) behaviors using multilevel analysis. The results indicate that organizational internal environmental orientation is positively related to employee recycling behavior. Managerial status exerts a moderating effect, such that the positive relationship between internal environmental orientation and energy‐saving behavior is stronger among managers than among non‐managers. Furthermore, an organization's external environmental orientation has an unequivocal positive relationship only with employee energy‐saving behavior. The theoretical and practical implications of the findings are discussed.","PeriodicalId":47954,"journal":{"name":"Business Ethics-A European Review","volume":"32 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":4.8,"publicationDate":"2020-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"74217696","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pablo Rodrigo, Claudio Aqueveque, Ignacio J. Duran
Virtually all studies that focus on the relationship between CSR perceptions and employees’ organizational commitment have not taken into consideration the fit between social and environmental activities and a firm’s business‐unit strategy. This is essential to inquire because scholars have argued that when companies ingrain CSR activities into their strategy‐making process (i.e., in their vision, mission, and overall business model), this might send a more compelling message that resonates closer to workers’ personal standards, and actually enhance employee‐level outcomes. Nevertheless, there is no certainty “if” and “how” these evaluations could affect employees’ organizational commitment. To address this issue, we use cue consistency theory and social identity theory as overarching frameworks to develop a model where we conceptually link perceptions of strategy‐CSR fit with a particular type of organizational commitment: affective. In addition, we posit and test three mediators to understand the underlying psychological mechanisms of this relationship: perceived external prestige, organizational identification, and work meaningfulness. Through structural equation modeling, and using a heterogeneous final sample of 579 employees, we find compelling evidence to support the fact that strategy‐CSR fit enhances employees’ affective organizational commitment through the proposed mediators. Academic contributions and practical implications are then discussed.
{"title":"Do Employees Value Strategic CSR? A Tale of Affective Organizational Commitment and its Underlying Mechanisms","authors":"Pablo Rodrigo, Claudio Aqueveque, Ignacio J. Duran","doi":"10.1111/beer.12227","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/beer.12227","url":null,"abstract":"Virtually all studies that focus on the relationship between CSR perceptions and employees’ organizational commitment have not taken into consideration the fit between social and environmental activities and a firm’s business‐unit strategy. This is essential to inquire because scholars have argued that when companies ingrain CSR activities into their strategy‐making process (i.e., in their vision, mission, and overall business model), this might send a more compelling message that resonates closer to workers’ personal standards, and actually enhance employee‐level outcomes. Nevertheless, there is no certainty “if” and “how” these evaluations could affect employees’ organizational commitment. To address this issue, we use cue consistency theory and social identity theory as overarching frameworks to develop a model where we conceptually link perceptions of strategy‐CSR fit with a particular type of organizational commitment: affective. In addition, we posit and test three mediators to understand the underlying psychological mechanisms of this relationship: perceived external prestige, organizational identification, and work meaningfulness. Through structural equation modeling, and using a heterogeneous final sample of 579 employees, we find compelling evidence to support the fact that strategy‐CSR fit enhances employees’ affective organizational commitment through the proposed mediators. Academic contributions and practical implications are then discussed.","PeriodicalId":47954,"journal":{"name":"Business Ethics-A European Review","volume":"6 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":4.8,"publicationDate":"2019-10-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"90931520","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
In this paper, we reflect on the role of the Other in ethical decision‐making in corporations. The Other, in the form of a corporation's stakeholders, has already been discussed in the scientific literature, but there are still some Others that remain unconsidered and that call on corporations to be responsible. Drawing on the philosophy of Levinas, we wish to highlight a green earth and future generations as two non‐immediate Others within a corporation's group of stakeholders whose voices are silenced. We argue that Levinasian ethics can be used as a framework to extend traditional stakeholder theory in a dynamic sphere. With this model, corporations can understand the vital role that both a green earth and future generations play in their existence and can respond to contingencies by considering delays. We enrich our paper with illustrative cases to present some serious environmental disasters that have occurred as a result of ignoring the Other. Finally, we show that understanding the Other as a part of a corporation's identity can create new avenues for “infinite responsibility” towards Others. We contribute to the relevant literature by highlighting that both a green earth and future generations are important but ignored stakeholder parties whose claims urgently need to be addressed.
{"title":"A Dynamic Stakeholder Model: An Other‐Oriented Ethical Approach","authors":"Akram Hatami, Naser Firoozi","doi":"10.1111/beer.12222","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/beer.12222","url":null,"abstract":"In this paper, we reflect on the role of the Other in ethical decision‐making in corporations. The Other, in the form of a corporation's stakeholders, has already been discussed in the scientific literature, but there are still some Others that remain unconsidered and that call on corporations to be responsible. Drawing on the philosophy of Levinas, we wish to highlight a green earth and future generations as two non‐immediate Others within a corporation's group of stakeholders whose voices are silenced. We argue that Levinasian ethics can be used as a framework to extend traditional stakeholder theory in a dynamic sphere. With this model, corporations can understand the vital role that both a green earth and future generations play in their existence and can respond to contingencies by considering delays. We enrich our paper with illustrative cases to present some serious environmental disasters that have occurred as a result of ignoring the Other. Finally, we show that understanding the Other as a part of a corporation's identity can create new avenues for “infinite responsibility” towards Others. We contribute to the relevant literature by highlighting that both a green earth and future generations are important but ignored stakeholder parties whose claims urgently need to be addressed.","PeriodicalId":47954,"journal":{"name":"Business Ethics-A European Review","volume":"3 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":4.8,"publicationDate":"2019-07-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"87793925","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
The purpose of this study was to inquire into the relative importance of morality, cost‐benefit, and emotion as motivations for the decision to blow the whistle externally, and the effects of such factors as motivations, perceived negative consequences, and preferences for reform on the intention to blow the whistle again. Based on a literature review, we formulated some hypotheses and, to test them, we used the data collected from a survey of 127 external whistleblowers in South Korea. The results revealed that morality was the most important motivation, followed by emotion, and then cost‐benefit, which thus, seemed to be the least important for the whistleblowers. Morality as a motivation and the perceived negative consequences of whistleblowing had a significant effect on the intention to blow the whistle again. This study helps advance the understanding of the motivations behind whistleblowing and the factors that influence the intention to blow the whistle again.
{"title":"The Motivations of External Whistleblowers and Their Impact on the Intention to Blow the Whistle Again","authors":"Heungsik Park, David Bruce Lewis","doi":"10.1111/beer.12224","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/beer.12224","url":null,"abstract":"The purpose of this study was to inquire into the relative importance of morality, cost‐benefit, and emotion as motivations for the decision to blow the whistle externally, and the effects of such factors as motivations, perceived negative consequences, and preferences for reform on the intention to blow the whistle again. Based on a literature review, we formulated some hypotheses and, to test them, we used the data collected from a survey of 127 external whistleblowers in South Korea. The results revealed that morality was the most important motivation, followed by emotion, and then cost‐benefit, which thus, seemed to be the least important for the whistleblowers. Morality as a motivation and the perceived negative consequences of whistleblowing had a significant effect on the intention to blow the whistle again. This study helps advance the understanding of the motivations behind whistleblowing and the factors that influence the intention to blow the whistle again.","PeriodicalId":47954,"journal":{"name":"Business Ethics-A European Review","volume":"6 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":4.8,"publicationDate":"2019-02-08","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"91044845","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"A reinvigorated vision for BE:ER to sustain a trajectory of excellence","authors":"D. Jamali, R. Barkemeyer, J. Leigh, G. Samara","doi":"10.1111/beer.12261","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/beer.12261","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":47954,"journal":{"name":"Business Ethics-A European Review","volume":"72 1","pages":"1-2"},"PeriodicalIF":4.8,"publicationDate":"2019-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"80049907","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
M. Alonso‐Almeida, Jordi Perramon, Llorenç Bagur‐Femenías
Companies' perceptions of corporate social responsibility (CSR) have been only partially analyzed from an individual perspective that focuses on personal characteristics and professional backgrounds. However, a gap exists in the research on manager leadership styles and CSR perceptions from a gender perspective. Therefore, this article analyzes differences in attitudes toward various dimensions of CSR by focusing on the leadership styles—transformational, dominance, and dual perspectives—of male and female managers in Spain. A total of 391 respondents in top management positions in Spain were surveyed. The findings revealed similarities and differences between genders with respect to leadership styles and CSR perceptions by dimension using a univariate analysis. A causal model that employed structural equation modeling was also estimated. The findings suggest that for transformational and dual leadership styles, Spanish women may be more adaptable and effective at pursuing company sustainability than Spanish men. However, dominance leadership was found to be the worst leadership style for deploying a CSR strategy. A number of conclusions for business management can be drawn, and some directions for future research are provided.
{"title":"Leadership Styles and Corporate Social Responsibility Management: Analysis from a Gender Perspective","authors":"M. Alonso‐Almeida, Jordi Perramon, Llorenç Bagur‐Femenías","doi":"10.1111/beer.12139","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/beer.12139","url":null,"abstract":"Companies' perceptions of corporate social responsibility (CSR) have been only partially analyzed from an individual perspective that focuses on personal characteristics and professional backgrounds. However, a gap exists in the research on manager leadership styles and CSR perceptions from a gender perspective. Therefore, this article analyzes differences in attitudes toward various dimensions of CSR by focusing on the leadership styles—transformational, dominance, and dual perspectives—of male and female managers in Spain. A total of 391 respondents in top management positions in Spain were surveyed. The findings revealed similarities and differences between genders with respect to leadership styles and CSR perceptions by dimension using a univariate analysis. A causal model that employed structural equation modeling was also estimated. The findings suggest that for transformational and dual leadership styles, Spanish women may be more adaptable and effective at pursuing company sustainability than Spanish men. However, dominance leadership was found to be the worst leadership style for deploying a CSR strategy. A number of conclusions for business management can be drawn, and some directions for future research are provided.","PeriodicalId":47954,"journal":{"name":"Business Ethics-A European Review","volume":"38 1 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":4.8,"publicationDate":"2017-04-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"82821292","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
We sketch out two basic paradigms informing banking practice: the economistic paradigm focusing on profit maximization and the humanistic one, serving the common good. We then highlight paradigmatic cases to explore how each of these business models fared during the quasi-natural experiment of the financial crisis. We find that many humanistic banks outperformed traditional economistic banks. Despite the uneven playing field humanistic banks fared remarkably well with regard to traditional financial performance judgements, muting criticisms of competitiveness. We find that overall both paradigms can provide a basis for successful banking as long as social and financial value generation are blended. We conclude by providing lessons learned for better banking.
{"title":"Humanistic and economistic approaches to banking - better banking lessons from the financial crisis?: Business Ethics: A European Review","authors":"M. Pirson, Anuj Gangahar, F. Wilson","doi":"10.1111/BEER.12131","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/BEER.12131","url":null,"abstract":"We sketch out two basic paradigms informing banking practice: the economistic paradigm focusing on profit maximization and the humanistic one, serving the common good. We then highlight paradigmatic cases to explore how each of these business models fared during the quasi-natural experiment of the financial crisis. We find that many humanistic banks outperformed traditional economistic banks. Despite the uneven playing field humanistic banks fared remarkably well with regard to traditional financial performance judgements, muting criticisms of competitiveness. We find that overall both paradigms can provide a basis for successful banking as long as social and financial value generation are blended. We conclude by providing lessons learned for better banking.","PeriodicalId":47954,"journal":{"name":"Business Ethics-A European Review","volume":"137 1","pages":"400-415"},"PeriodicalIF":4.8,"publicationDate":"2016-10-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"73965803","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}