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Business Ethics: The State of the Art
Author(s) -
Werhane Patricia H.,
Freeman R. Edward
Publication year - 1999
Publication title -
international journal of management reviews
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 4.475
H-Index - 107
eISSN - 1468-2370
pISSN - 1460-8545
DOI - 10.1111/1468-2370.00002
Subject(s) - business ethics , scholarship , philosophy of business , agency (philosophy) , corporation , stakeholder , information ethics , sociology , engineering ethics , meta ethics , applied ethics , normative ethics , state (computer science) , business practice , moral agency , public relations , stakeholder theory , environmental ethics , political science , management , business model , social science , law , business , economics , business administration , philosophy , algorithm , computer science , engineering
The purpose of this paper is to give an account of some of the current areas of scholarship in business ethics and to suggest how these areas may be relevant for scholars working in other business disciplines. We endeavor to paint a picture of a healthy discipline full of controversy, rich intellectual discussions, and the beginnings of several research traditions. To begin, we examine how it is common practice to think of ‘business’ and ‘ethics’ as separate entities, and suggest how such a ‘separation thesis’ can be used to diagnose problems in a host of business disciplines. We next examine the literature on corporate agency and responsibility that questions whether or not a corporation can be said to be normally accountable, in the same way that individual moral agents can be held accountable, and we look at an emerging research tradition of ‘stakeholder theory’ that cuts across the disciplines of business. We then explore two contemporary issues in business ethics: (1) International Business Ethics; and, (2) Environmental Ethics and Business, and we conclude with suggestions for some additional research questions.