IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/kap/jbuset/v133y2016i2d10.1007_s10551-014-2350-1.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The Limits of Generosity: Lessons on Ethics, Economy, and Reciprocity in Kafka’s The Metamorphosis

Author

Listed:
  • Carl Rhodes

    (Macquarie University)

  • Robert Westwood

    (University of Newcastle)

Abstract

This paper interrogates the relation between reciprocity and ethics as it concerns participation in the world of work and organizations. Tracing discussions of business and organizational ethics that concern themselves, respectively, with the ethics of self-interest, the ethics of reciprocity, and the ethics of generosity, we explore the possibility of ethical relations with those who are seen as radically different, and who are divested of anything worth exchanging. To address this we provide a reading of Franz Kafka’s famous novella The Metamorphosis and relate to it as a means to extend our understanding of business and organizational ethics. This story, we demonstrate, yields insight into the unbearable demands of ethics as they relate to reciprocity and generosity. On this basis, we draw conclusions concerning the mutually constitutive ethical limitations of reciprocity and generosity as ethical touchstones for organizational life while simultaneously accepting the seemingly insurmountable difficulties of exceeding those limits. In such a condition, we argue, ethics is not best served by adopting idealistic or moralizing positions regarding generosity but rather by working in the indissoluble tensions between self and other.

Suggested Citation

  • Carl Rhodes & Robert Westwood, 2016. "The Limits of Generosity: Lessons on Ethics, Economy, and Reciprocity in Kafka’s The Metamorphosis," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 133(2), pages 235-248, January.
    • Handle: RePEc:kap:jbuset:v:133:y:2016:i:2:d:10.1007_s10551-014-2350-1
    DOI: 10.1007/s10551-014-2350-1
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s10551-014-2350-1
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1007/s10551-014-2350-1?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Douglas A. Bosse & Robert A. Phillips & Jeffrey S. Harrison, 2009. "Stakeholders, reciprocity, and firm performance," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 30(4), pages 447-456, April.
    2. Roberts, John, 2001. "Corporate Governance and the Ethics of Narcissus," Business Ethics Quarterly, Cambridge University Press, vol. 11(1), pages 109-127, January.
    3. Robert Westwood & Andrew Chan & Stephen Linstead, 2004. "Theorizing Chinese Employment Relations Comparatively: Exchange, Reciprocity and the Moral Economy," Asia Pacific Journal of Management, Springer, vol. 21(3), pages 365-389, September.
    4. Corvellec, Hervé & Bevan, David, 2005. "The Impossibility of Corporate Ethics – For a Levinasian Approach to Managerial Ethics," GRI-rapport 2005:9, University of Gothenburg, Gothenburg Research Institute GRI.
    5. Macintosh, N.B. & Shearer, T. & Riccaboni, A., 2009. "A Levinasian ethics critique of the role of management and control systems by large global corporations: The General Electric/Nuovo Pignone example," CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES ON ACCOUNTING, Elsevier, vol. 20(6), pages 751-761.
    6. Harrison, Jeffrey S. & Bosse, Douglas A., 2013. "How much is too much? The limits to generous treatment of stakeholders," Business Horizons, Elsevier, vol. 56(3), pages 313-322.
    7. Ten Bos, René & Rhodes, Carl, 2003. "The game of exemplarity: subjectivity, work and the impossible politics of purity," Scandinavian Journal of Management, Elsevier, vol. 19(4), pages 403-423, December.
    8. Shearer, Teri, 2002. "Ethics and accountability: from the for-itself to the for-the-other," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 27(6), pages 541-573, August.
    9. Yves Fassin, 2012. "Stakeholder Management, Reciprocity and Stakeholder Responsibility," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 109(1), pages 83-96, August.
    10. David Knights & Majella O’Leary, 2006. "Leadership, Ethics and Responsibility to the Other," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 67(2), pages 125-137, August.
    11. Goodstein, Jerry D. & Wicks, Andrew C., 2007. "Corporate and Stakeholder Responsibility: Making Business Ethics A Two-Way Conversation," Business Ethics Quarterly, Cambridge University Press, vol. 17(3), pages 375-398, July.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Arora Swapan Deep, 2023. "Contemporary challenges of consumption: a Kafkaesque and critical marketing perspective," International Journal of Contemporary Management, Sciendo, vol. 59(4), pages 58-73, December.
    2. Christopher Michaelson, 2017. "Virtual Special Issue on Humanities and Business Ethics," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 142(3), pages 409-412, May.
    3. Yanju Zhou & Yi Yu & Xiaohong Chen & Xiongwei Zhou, 2020. "Guanxi or Justice? An Empirical Study of WeChat Voting," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 164(1), pages 201-225, June.
    4. Kévin André & Sylvain Bureau & Arthur Gautier & Olivier Rubel, 2017. "Beyond the Opposition Between Altruism and Self-interest: Reciprocal Giving in Reward-Based Crowdfunding," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 146(2), pages 313-332, December.
    5. Joel Hietanen & Antti Sihvonen, 2021. "Catering to Otherness: Levinasian Consumer Ethics at Restaurant Day," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 168(2), pages 261-276, January.
    6. Carl Rhodes, 2017. "Ethical Praxis and the Business Case for LGBT Diversity: Political Insights from Judith Butler and Emmanuel Levinas," Gender, Work and Organization, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 24(5), pages 533-546, September.
    7. Muhammad Aftab Alam & David Rooney & Erik Lundmark & Murray Taylor, 2023. "The Ethics of Sharing: Does Generosity Erode the Competitive Advantage of an Ecosystem Firm?," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 187(4), pages 821-839, November.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Cameron Graham & Martin E. Persson & Vaughan S. Radcliffe & Mitchell J. Stein, 2023. "The State of Ohio’s Auditors, the Enumeration of Population, and the Project of Eugenics," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 187(3), pages 565-587, October.
    2. François-Régis Puyou & Eric Faÿ, 2015. "Cogs in the Wheel or Spanners in the Works? A Phenomenological Approach to the Difficulty and Meaning of Ethical Work for Financial Controllers," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 128(4), pages 863-876, June.
    3. Albert D. Spalding & Gretchen R. Lawrie, 2019. "A Critical Examination of the AICPA’s New “Conceptual Framework” Ethics Protocol," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 155(4), pages 1135-1152, April.
    4. Sefa Hayibor, 2017. "Is Fair Treatment Enough? Augmenting the Fairness-Based Perspective on Stakeholder Behaviour," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 140(1), pages 43-64, January.
    5. Jeff Everett & Constance Friesen & Dean Neu & Abu Shiraz Rahaman, 2018. "We Have Never Been Secular: Religious Identities, Duties, and Ethics in Audit Practice," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 153(4), pages 1121-1142, December.
    6. Kévin André & Sylvain Bureau & Arthur Gautier & Olivier Rubel, 2017. "Beyond the Opposition Between Altruism and Self-interest: Reciprocal Giving in Reward-Based Crowdfunding," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 146(2), pages 313-332, December.
    7. Dillard, Jesse & Roslender, Robin, 2011. "Taking pluralism seriously: Embedded moralities in management accounting and control systems," CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES ON ACCOUNTING, Elsevier, vol. 22(2), pages 135-147.
    8. Kirsten Martin & Robert Phillips, 2022. "Stakeholder Friction," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 177(3), pages 519-531, May.
    9. Tingting Zhang & Zhengyi Zhang & Jingyu Yang, 2022. "When Does Corporate Social Responsibility Backfire in Acquisitions? Signal Incongruence and Acquirer Returns," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 175(1), pages 45-58, January.
    10. Tobias Hahn & Noël Albert, 2017. "Strong Reciprocity in Consumer Boycotts," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 145(3), pages 509-524, October.
    11. Yves Fassin, 2012. "Stakeholder Management, Reciprocity and Stakeholder Responsibility," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 109(1), pages 83-96, August.
    12. Bosse, Douglas & Thompson, Steven & Ekman, Peter, 2023. "In consilium apparatus: Artificial intelligence, stakeholder reciprocity, and firm performance," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 155(PA).
    13. Max Baker & John Roberts, 2011. "All in the Mind? Ethical Identity and the Allure of Corporate Responsibility," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 101(1), pages 5-15, March.
    14. Frey-Heger, Corinna & Barrett, Michael, 2021. "Possibilities and limits of social accountability: The consequences of visibility as recognition and exposure in refugee crises," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 89(C).
    15. Dina Tomsic, 2013. "Towards A Relational View Of Corporate Governance," Montenegrin Journal of Economics, Economic Laboratory for Transition Research (ELIT), vol. 9(2), pages 71-88.
    16. Addmore T. Muruviwa & Wilson Akpan & Fhulu H. Nekhwevha, 2020. "Debating stakeholder reciprocity: understanding the stakeholders’ duties in corporate social responsibility in a Zimbabwean mining town," Environment, Development and Sustainability: A Multidisciplinary Approach to the Theory and Practice of Sustainable Development, Springer, vol. 22(3), pages 1787-1809, March.
    17. O'Leary, Susan & Dinh, Tami & Frueh, Seraina, 2023. "Affirmative otherness in a humanitarian NGO: Implications for accountability as responsiveness," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 111(C).
    18. Mario Minoja, 2012. "Stakeholder Management Theory, Firm Strategy, and Ambidexterity," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 109(1), pages 67-82, August.
    19. Jeffrey S. Harrison & Andrew C. Wicks, 2021. "Harmful Stakeholder Strategies," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 169(3), pages 405-419, March.
    20. Silvana Signori & Yves Fassin, 2023. "Family Members’ Salience in Family Business: An Identity-Based Stakeholder Approach," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 183(1), pages 191-211, February.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:kap:jbuset:v:133:y:2016:i:2:d:10.1007_s10551-014-2350-1. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.springer.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.