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The Power of Speech Acts: Reflections on a Performative Concept of Ethical Oaths in Economics and Business

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  • Vincent Blok

Abstract

Ethical oaths for bankers, economists and managers are increasingly seen as successful instruments to ensure more responsible behaviour. In this article, we reflect on the nature of ethical oaths. Based on John Austin's speech act theory and the work of Emmanuel Levinas, we introduce a performative concept of ethical oaths that is characterised by (1) the existential self-performative of the one I want to be, which is (2) demanded by the public context. Because ethical oaths are (3) structurally threatened by the possibility of infelicity or failure, we stress (4) the behavioural aspect of ethical oaths in economics and business. We conclude that a performative concept of ethical oaths can contribute to more ethical behaviour in economics and business, because the performative involves action and behaviour. At the same time, it becomes clear that a radical new perspective on the nature, function and limitation of oaths is needed.

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  • Vincent Blok, 2013. "The Power of Speech Acts: Reflections on a Performative Concept of Ethical Oaths in Economics and Business," Review of Social Economy, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 71(2), pages 187-208, June.
    • Handle: RePEc:taf:rsocec:v:71:y:2013:i:2:p:187-208
    DOI: 10.1080/00346764.2013.799965
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    Cited by:

    1. Boudewijn Bruin, 2016. "Pledging Integrity: Oaths as Forms of Business Ethics Management," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 136(1), pages 23-42, June.
    2. Lauren Kleynjans & Marek Hudon, 2016. "A Study of Codes of Ethics for Mexican Microfinance Institutions," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 134(3), pages 397-412, March.
    3. Tobias Beck & Christoph Bühren & Björn Frank & Elina Khachatryan, 2020. "Can Honesty Oaths, Peer Interaction, or Monitoring Mitigate Lying?," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 163(3), pages 467-484, May.
    4. Tobias Beck, 2020. "Lying and Mistrust in the Continuous Deception Game," MAGKS Papers on Economics 202030, Philipps-Universität Marburg, Faculty of Business Administration and Economics, Department of Economics (Volkswirtschaftliche Abteilung).
    5. Beck, Tobias, 2021. "How the honesty oath works: Quick, intuitive truth telling under oath," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics (formerly The Journal of Socio-Economics), Elsevier, vol. 94(C).

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