IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/kap/jbuset/v170y2021i2d10.1007_s10551-020-04634-x.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Constrained Morality in the Professional Work of Corporate Lawyers

Author

Listed:
  • Dawn Yi Lin Chow

    (The Open University of Hong Kong)

  • Thomas Calvard

    (University of Edinburgh Business School)

Abstract

In this article, we contribute to sociological literatures on morality, professional and institutional contexts, and morally stigmatized ‘dirty work’ by emphasizing and exploring how they mutually inform one another in lawyers’ work activities. Drawing on interview data with 58 practitioners in the commercial legal industry in Singapore, we analyze how they experience professional and institutional constraints on the expressions of morality in their work. Our findings illustrate how a dominant managerial and economic focus maintains and reproduces a constrained form of morality, limited to instrumental, utilitarian and commercial ends, and subordinated to lucrative client and firm interests. We discuss our findings in terms of the need to research and reform professions in ways that support more rounded and unconstrained moral reflexivity and autonomy in how work is undertaken and valued. This in turn has implications for how organizations and professions might achieve alternative moral institutional orders, and for legal work to avoid the moral and social taints of dirty work.

Suggested Citation

  • Dawn Yi Lin Chow & Thomas Calvard, 2021. "Constrained Morality in the Professional Work of Corporate Lawyers," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 170(2), pages 213-228, May.
    • Handle: RePEc:kap:jbuset:v:170:y:2021:i:2:d:10.1007_s10551-020-04634-x
    DOI: 10.1007/s10551-020-04634-x
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s10551-020-04634-x
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1007/s10551-020-04634-x?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. Epstein, Richard A., 2014. "Big Law and Big Med: The deprofessionalization of legal and medical services," International Review of Law and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 38(S), pages 64-76.
    2. Ashforth, Blake E. & Kreiner, Glen E., 2014. "Dirty Work and Dirtier Work: Differences in Countering Physical, Social, and Moral Stigma," Management and Organization Review, Cambridge University Press, vol. 10(1), pages 81-108, March.
    3. Michael Pirson, 2020. "A Humanistic Narrative for Responsible Management Learning: An Ontological Perspective," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 162(4), pages 775-793, April.
    4. Anteby, Michel & Chan, Curtis K. & DiBenigno, Julia, "undated". "Three Lenses on Occupations and Professions in Organizations: Becoming, Doing, and Relating," Working Paper 324041, Harvard University OpenScholar.
    5. Blake E. Ashforth & Glen E. Kreiner, 2014. "Dirty Work and Dirtier Work: Differences in Countering Physical, Social, and Moral Stigma. 脏活与更脏的工作：在对抗身体、社会和道德污名上的差异," Management and Organization Review, The International Association for Chinese Management Research, vol. 10(1), pages 81-108, March.
    6. Lisa Herzog, 2019. "Professional Ethics in Banking and the Logic of “Integrated Situations”: Aligning Responsibilities, Recognition, and Incentives," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 156(2), pages 531-543, May.
    7. Mark Sargent, "undated". "Lawyers in the Moral Maze," Villanova University Legal Working Paper Series villanovalwps-1013, Villanova University School of Law.
    8. Barbara Mescher, 2008. "The Business of Commercial Legal Advice and the Ethical Implications for Lawyers and Their Clients," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 81(4), pages 913-926, September.
    9. Bjorn Fasterling, 2009. "The Managerial Law Firm and the Globalization of Legal Ethics," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 88(1), pages 21-34, August.
    10. Moshe Farjoun & Christopher Ansell & Arjen Boin, 2015. "PERSPECTIVE—Pragmatism in Organization Studies: Meeting the Challenges of a Dynamic and Complex World," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 26(6), pages 1787-1804, December.
    11. Daniel Muzio & David M. Brock & Roy Suddaby, 2013. "Professions and Institutional Change: Towards an Institutionalist Sociology of the Professions," Journal of Management Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 50(5), pages 699-721, July.
    12. Susan Addison & Frank Mueller, 2015. "The dark side of professions: the big four and tax avoidance," Accounting, Auditing & Accountability Journal, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 28(8), pages 1263-1290, October.
    13. Currell, Daniel & Henderson, M. Todd, 2014. "Can lawyers stay in the driver's seat?," International Review of Law and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 38(S), pages 17-28.
    14. Richard Winter, 2011. "The Principled Legal Firm: Insights into the Professional Ideals and Ethical Values of Partners and Lawyers," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 98(2), pages 297-306, January.
    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. Bernadette Loacker, 2023. "Does the Ethos of Law Erode? Lawyers’ Professional Practices, Self-Understanding and Ethics at Work," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 187(1), pages 33-52, September.

    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. Kurt Sandholtz & Daisy Chung & Isaac Waisberg, 2019. "The Double-Edged Sword of Jurisdictional Entrenchment: Explaining Human Resources Professionals’ Failed Strategic Repositioning," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 30(6), pages 1349-1367, November.
    2. Onno Bouwmeester & Tessa Elisabeth Kok, 2018. "Moral or Dirty Leadership: A Qualitative Study on How Juniors Are Managed in Dutch Consultancies," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 15(11), pages 1-22, November.
    3. Kam Phung & Sean Buchanan & Madeline Toubiana & Trish Ruebottom & Luciana Turchick‐Hakak, 2021. "When Stigma Doesn’t Transfer: Stigma Deflection and Occupational Stratification in the Sharing Economy," Journal of Management Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 58(4), pages 1107-1139, June.
    4. Torin Monahan & Jill A Fisher, 2020. "Sacrificial Labour: Social Inequality, Identity Work, and the Damaging Pursuit of Elusive Futures," Work, Employment & Society, British Sociological Association, vol. 34(3), pages 441-456, June.
    5. Jason Hughes & Ruth Simpson & Natasha Slutskaya & Alex Simpson & Kahryn Hughes, 2017. "Beyond the symbolic: a relational approach to dirty work through a study of refuse collectors and street cleaners," Work, Employment & Society, British Sociological Association, vol. 31(1), pages 106-122, February.
    6. Gill Kirton & Cécile Guillaume, 2019. "When Welfare Professionals Encounter Restructuring and Privatization: The Inside Story of the Probation Service of England and Wales," Work, Employment & Society, British Sociological Association, vol. 33(6), pages 929-947, December.
    7. Zhang, Guanglei & Wang, Huaying & Li, Mingze, 2023. "“A Little Thanks Changes My World”: When and why dirty work employees feel meaningfulness at work," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 163(C).
    8. Endo, Takahiro & Tsuboyama, Yuki & Hara, Yoritoshi, 2016. "Beyond taxation: Discourse around energy policy in Japan," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 98(C), pages 412-419.
    9. Maria Terskova & Elena Agadullina, 2018. "Perceived Intelligence And Long-Term Stigmatization Of Dirty Workers," HSE Working papers WP BRP 95/PSY/2018, National Research University Higher School of Economics.
    10. Cecilia Benoit & Michaela Smith & Mikael Jansson & Priscilla Healey & Douglas Magnuson, 2021. "The Relative Quality of Sex Work," Work, Employment & Society, British Sociological Association, vol. 35(2), pages 239-255, April.
    11. Kurtz LAW & Jacqueline MUJAYA & Saddam IQBAL & Takatomo ITOI & Keita SUGIYAMA, 2022. "Investigating Occupational-Stress for Workers in Financial Institutions; a Reclassification of Work Stigma through Japanese and Western Values," REVISTA DE MANAGEMENT COMPARAT INTERNATIONAL/REVIEW OF INTERNATIONAL COMPARATIVE MANAGEMENT, Faculty of Management, Academy of Economic Studies, Bucharest, Romania, vol. 23(2), pages 302-313, May.
    12. Dawn Yi Lin Chow & Andreas Petrou & Andreas Procopiou, 2023. "A Perspective on the Influence of National Corporate Governance Institutions and Government’s Political Ideology on the Speed to Lockdown as a Means of Protection Against Covid-19," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 185(3), pages 611-628, July.
    13. Jeremy W. Bohonos, 2021. "Critical race theory and working‐class White men: Exploring race privilege and lower‐class work‐life," Gender, Work and Organization, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 28(1), pages 54-66, January.
    14. Alcalde-González, Verna & Gálvez Mozo, Ana & Valenzuela Bustos, Alan, 2021. "No clean rooms, no hotel business: Subversion tactics in Las Kellys’ struggle for dignity in hotel housekeeping," Annals of Tourism Research, Elsevier, vol. 91(C).
    15. Peter Hamilton & Tom Redman & Robert McMurray, 2019. "‘Lower than a Snake’s Belly’: Discursive Constructions of Dignity and Heroism in Low-Status Garbage Work," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 156(4), pages 889-901, June.
    16. Sergeeva, Anastasia & Bhardwaj, Akhil & Dimov, Dimo, 2021. "In the heat of the game: Analogical abduction in a pragmatist account of entrepreneurial reasoning," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 36(6).
    17. Kladakis, George & Chen, Lei & Bellos, Sotirios K., 2023. "Ethical bank disclosures and liquidity creation," Journal of International Financial Markets, Institutions and Money, Elsevier, vol. 84(C).
    18. Mike W. Peng, 2019. "Global competition and diffusion of the “A” list," Frontiers of Business Research in China, Springer, vol. 13(1), pages 1-23, December.
    19. Ashley, Louise & Boussebaa, Mehdi & Friedman, Sam & Harrington, Brooke & Heusinkveld, Stefan & Gustafsson, Stefanie & Muzio, Daniel, 2023. "Professions and inequality: challenges, controversies, and opportunities," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 119522, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    20. Tim Hallett & Matthew Gougherty, 2024. "Learning to Think Like an Economist without Becoming One: Ambivalent Reproduction and Policy Couplings in a Masters of Public Affairs Program," American Sociological Review, , vol. 89(2), pages 227-255, April.

    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:170:y:2021:i:2:d:10.1007_s10551-020-04634-x. 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.