Corporate moral agency as an epistemological organizing principle

Article type: Research Article

Authors: Singer, Alan E.^*

Affiliations: Walker College of Business, Appalachian State University, Boone, NC, USA

Correspondence: [*] Corresponding author: Alan E. Singer, Walker College of Business, Appalachian State University, Boone, NC 28608, USA. Tel.: +1 828 262 2163; Fax: +1 828 262 8685; E-mail: [email protected].

Abstract: A continuing debate about corporate and collective rights and responsibilities has taken place within several academic disciplines, including business-ethics and legal-philosophy; but also in the behavioral and systems sciences, economics and accounting-theory. Accordingly, there are many distinctive types of contribution to the debate. The relationship between these types is quite complex, but it can be untangled. Accordingly, an organizing framework is set out with the intention of helping researchers to place contributions to the debate relative to each other. Some weaknesses are thereby highlighted and previously obscure connections are revealed. An extension of the framework then serves to structure some general criticisms of the entire debate (i.e. the meta-debate). It is duly suggested that the notion of ‘corporate moral agency’ might be thought of in future as epistemological organizing principle, rather than a political battleground or solvable puzzle.

Keywords: Moral-agency, social-responsibility, corporate-rights

DOI: 10.3233/HSM-150855

Journal: Human Systems Management, vol. 35, no. 1, pp. 65-77, 2016