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Debunking Corporate Moral Responsibility

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  • Velasquez, Manuel

Abstract

I address three topics. First, I argue that the issue of corporate moral responsibility is an important one for business ethics. Second, I examine a core argument for the claim that the corporate organization is a separate moral agent and show it is based on an unnoticed but elementary mistake deriving from the fallacy of division. Third, I examine the assumptions collectivists make about what it means to say that organizations act and that they act intentionally and show that these assumptions are mistaken in their failure to understand the nature of intentional causality and of “as-if” intentionality. In exposing these mistakes I set out my own view in the form of two theses, the first of which states that individual members of an organization are always causally responsible for any corporate act, and the second of which states that attributions of intentions to corporations are always either descriptive or prescriptive attributions of “as if” intentionality.

Suggested Citation

  • Velasquez, Manuel, 2003. "Debunking Corporate Moral Responsibility," Business Ethics Quarterly, Cambridge University Press, vol. 13(4), pages 531-562, October.
    • Handle: RePEc:cup:buetqu:v:13:y:2003:i:04:p:531-562_00
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    Cited by:

    1. Yuliya Shymko & Sandrine Frémeaux, 2022. "Escaping the Fantasy Land of Freedom in Organizations: The Contribution of Hannah Arendt," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 176(2), pages 213-226, March.
    2. Bruce Barry & Mara Olekalns & Laura Rees, 2019. "An Ethical Analysis of Emotional Labor," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 160(1), pages 17-34, November.
    3. John Hasnas, 2012. "Reflections on Corporate Moral Responsibility and the Problem Solving Technique of Alexander the Great," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 107(2), pages 183-195, May.
    4. Steven Daskal, 2013. "Saving for Retirement Without Harming Others," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 113(1), pages 147-156, March.
    5. Tina Sendlhofer, 2020. "Decoupling from Moral Responsibility for CSR: Employees' Visionary Procrastination at a SME," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 167(2), pages 361-378, November.
    6. Eleanor Burt & Samuel Mansell, 2019. "Moral Agency in Charities and Business Corporations: Exploring the Constraints of Law and Regulation," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 159(1), pages 59-73, September.
    7. Brian Berkey, 2021. "Sweatshops, Structural Injustice, and the Wrong of Exploitation: Why Multinational Corporations Have Positive Duties to the Global Poor," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 169(1), pages 43-56, February.
    8. Tobey Scharding, 2019. "Individual Actions and Corporate Moral Responsibility: A (Reconstituted) Kantian Approach," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 154(4), pages 929-942, February.
    9. John Hasnas, 2018. "Should Corporations Have the Right to Vote? A Paradox in the Theory of Corporate Moral Agency," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 150(3), pages 657-670, July.
    10. Matthias P. Hühn, 2018. "CSR - the Cuckoo’s Egg in the Business Ethics Nest," Humanistic Management Journal, Springer, vol. 3(2), pages 279-298, December.
    11. Mihaela Constantinescu & Muel Kaptein, 2015. "Mutually Enhancing Responsibility: A Theoretical Exploration of the Interaction Mechanisms Between Individual and Corporate Moral Responsibility," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 129(2), pages 325-339, June.
    12. Leandro Martins Zanitelli, 2013. "Corporate Moral Duties: Consequentialism, Collective Moral Agency and the “Ought†Implies “Can†Maxim," International Journal of Business and Social Research, LAR Center Press, vol. 3(11), pages 17-29, November.
    13. Andrew West, 2018. "Multinational Tax Avoidance: Virtue Ethics and the Role of Accountants," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 153(4), pages 1143-1156, December.
    14. Heugens, P.P.M.A.R. & Kaptein, S.P. & van Oosterhout, J., 2007. "Contracts to Communities: A Processual Model of Organizational Virtue," ERIM Report Series Research in Management ERS-2007-023-ORG, Erasmus Research Institute of Management (ERIM), ERIM is the joint research institute of the Rotterdam School of Management, Erasmus University and the Erasmus School of Economics (ESE) at Erasmus University Rotterdam.
    15. Abeysuriya, Kumudini & Mitchell, Cynthia & White, Stuart, 2007. "Can corporate social responsibility resolve the sanitation question in developing Asian countries?," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 62(1), pages 174-183, April.
    16. Tim Mulgan, 2019. "Corporate Agency and Possible Futures," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 154(4), pages 901-916, February.
    17. David Dawson, 2018. "Organisational Virtue, Moral Attentiveness, and the Perceived Role of Ethics and Social Responsibility in Business: The Case of UK HR Practitioners," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 148(4), pages 765-781, April.
    18. Yuliya Shymko & Sandrine Frémeaux, 2021. "Escaping the Fantasy Land of Freedom in Organizations: The Contribution of Hannah Arendt," Post-Print hal-03597131, HAL.
    19. Kenneth Silver, 2019. "Can a Corporation be Worthy of Moral Consideration?," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 159(1), pages 253-265, September.
    20. Leandro Martins Zanitelli, 2013. "Corporate Moral Duties: Consequentialism, Collective Moral Agency and the “Ought†Implies “Can†Maxim," International Journal of Business and Social Research, MIR Center for Socio-Economic Research, vol. 3(11), pages 17-29, November.
    21. Samuel Mansell & John Ferguson & David Gindis & Avia Pasternak, 2019. "Rethinking Corporate Agency in Business, Philosophy, and Law," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 154(4), pages 893-899, February.
    22. Vikram R. Bhargava, 2020. "Firm Responses to Mass Outrage: Technology, Blame, and Employment," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 163(3), pages 379-400, May.
    23. Ian Ashman & Diana Winstanley, 2007. "For or Against Corporate Identity? Personification and the Problem of Moral Agency," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 76(1), pages 83-95, November.

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