IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/lrc/larijb/v3y2013i11p17-29.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Corporate Moral Duties: Consequentialism, Collective Moral Agency and the “Ought†Implies “Can†Maxim

Author

Listed:
  • Leandro Martins Zanitelli

    (Professor and Coordinator,Faculty of Law, Ritter dos Reis Universitary Center (UniRitter))

Abstract

The claim according to which corporations are morally responsible is a controversial one. At the same time, it is nowadays common to assign moral duties to companies, especially in work confronting the business and human rights issue. Can companies bear moral duties without being morally responsible? This article presents three different accounts of the duty to follow the course of action with the best consequences (consequentialist duty). The ascription of that duty to business is compatible with the claim that, by not being volitional agents, companies are not morally responsible for anything they do. The paper also addresses two possible objections against the claim that companies bear the duty of taking the course of action with the best consequences. These objections state that corporations are incapable of acting, be it in a general way (i.e. corporations do not possess the moral status of agents), be it regarding particular acts (the objection grounded on the “ought†implies “can†maxim).

Suggested Citation

  • 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.
    • Handle: RePEc:lrc:larijb:v:3:y:2013:i:11:p:17-29
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://thejournalofbusiness.org/index.php/site/article/view/337/307
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Arnold, Denis G., 2010. "Transnational Corporations and the Duty to Respect Basic Human Rights," Business Ethics Quarterly, Cambridge University Press, vol. 20(3), pages 371-399, July.
    2. Wood, Stepan, 2012. "The Case for Leverage-Based Corporate Human Rights Responsibility," Business Ethics Quarterly, Cambridge University Press, vol. 22(1), pages 63-98, January.
    3. John Ruggie, 2008. "Protect, Respect and Remedy: A Framework for Business and Human Rights," Innovations: Technology, Governance, Globalization, MIT Press, vol. 3(2), pages 189-212, April.
    4. Zimmerman, Michael J., 2006. "Is Moral Obligation Objective or Subjective?," Utilitas, Cambridge University Press, vol. 18(4), pages 329-361, December.
    5. Wettstein, Florian, 2010. "For Better or For Worse: Corporate Responsibility Beyond “Do No Harm”," Business Ethics Quarterly, Cambridge University Press, vol. 20(2), pages 275-283, April.
    6. Velasquez, Manuel, 2003. "Debunking Corporate Moral Responsibility," Business Ethics Quarterly, Cambridge University Press, vol. 13(4), pages 531-562, October.
    7. Wettstein, Florian, 2012. "Silence as Complicity: Elements of a Corporate Duty to Speak Out Against the Violation of Human Rights," Business Ethics Quarterly, Cambridge University Press, vol. 22(1), pages 37-61, 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. 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.

    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. 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.
    2. Matthew Murphy & Jordi Vives, 2013. "Perceptions of Justice and the Human Rights Protect, Respect, and Remedy Framework," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 116(4), pages 781-797, September.
    3. Matthew Amengual & Rita Mota & Alexander Rustler, 2023. "The ‘Court of Public Opinion:’ Public Perceptions of Business Involvement in Human Rights Violations," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 185(1), pages 49-74, June.
    4. Björn Fasterling & Geert Demuijnck, 2013. "Human Rights in the Void? Due Diligence in the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 116(4), pages 799-814, September.
    5. Wettstein, Florian & Giuliani, Elisa & Santangelo, Grazia D. & Stahl, Günter K., 2019. "International business and human rights: A research agenda," Journal of World Business, Elsevier, vol. 54(1), pages 54-65.
    6. Davide Fiaschi & Elisa Giuliani, 2011. "The impact of business on society: exploring CRS adoption and alleged human rights abuses by large corporations," LEM Papers Series 2011/13, Laboratory of Economics and Management (LEM), Sant'Anna School of Advanced Studies, Pisa, Italy.
    7. Karin Buhmann, 2016. "Public Regulators and CSR: The ‘Social Licence to Operate’ in Recent United Nations Instruments on Business and Human Rights and the Juridification of CSR," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 136(4), pages 699-714, July.
    8. Onyeka K. Osuji & Ugochukwu L. Obibuaku, 2016. "Rights and Corporate Social Responsibility: Competing or Complementary Approaches to Poverty Reduction and Socioeconomic Rights?," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 136(2), pages 329-347, June.
    9. John E. Katsos & Yass AlKafaji, 2019. "Business in War Zones: How Companies Promote Peace in Iraq," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 155(1), pages 41-56, March.
    10. Hannes Hofmann & Martin C. Schleper & Constantin Blome, 2018. "Conflict Minerals and Supply Chain Due Diligence: An Exploratory Study of Multi-tier Supply Chains," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 147(1), pages 115-141, January.
    11. Tricia D. Olsen & Laura Bernal-Bermúdez, 2024. "Uncovering Economic Complicity: Explaining State-Led Human Rights Abuses in the Corporate Context," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 189(1), pages 35-54, January.
    12. Prabhir Poruthiyil, 2013. "Weaning Business Ethics from Strategic Economism: The Development Ethics Perspective," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 116(4), pages 735-749, September.
    13. Maximilian J. L. Schormair & Lara M. Gerlach, 2020. "Corporate Remediation of Human Rights Violations: A Restorative Justice Framework," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 167(3), pages 475-493, December.
    14. Aymen Sajjad & Gabriel Eweje, 2021. "The COVID-19 Pandemic: Female Workers’ Social Sustainability in Global Supply Chains," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(22), pages 1-14, November.
    15. Obara, Louise J. & Peattie, Ken, 2018. "Bridging the great divide? Making sense of the human rights-CSR relationship in UK multinational companies," Journal of World Business, Elsevier, vol. 53(6), pages 781-793.
    16. Arnold, Denis G. & Valentin, Andres, 2013. "Corporate social responsibility at the base of the pyramid," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 66(10), pages 1904-1914.
    17. Schleper, Martin C. & Blome, Constantin & Stevenson, Mark & Thürer, Matthias & Tusell, Iu, 2022. "When it’s the slaves that pay: In search of a fair due diligence cost distribution in conflict mineral supply chains," Transportation Research Part E: Logistics and Transportation Review, Elsevier, vol. 164(C).
    18. Ake Okechukwu, 2021. "A Theoretical Appraise of the Rights of Human and Robots in the Emerging Nigerian Industrial Environment," International Journal of Research and Innovation in Social Science, International Journal of Research and Innovation in Social Science (IJRISS), vol. 5(10), pages 727-735, October.
    19. 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.
    20. Domènec Melé & Carlos Sánchez-Runde, 2013. "Cultural Diversity and Universal Ethics in a Global World," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 116(4), pages 681-687, September.

    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:lrc:larijb:v:3:y:2013:i:11:p:17-29. 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: Al Hossain (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.thejournalofbusiness.org .

    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.