The Internal Morality of Contracting: Advancing the Contractualist Endeavor in Business Ethics

Integrative social contracts theory is arguably the most promising theory of business ethics to date, but often criticized for its inability to produce substantive, action-guiding norms. Rather than importing moral substance from outside the contractualist framework, or abandoning contractualist bus...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:The Academy of Management review 2006-07, Vol.31 (3), p.521-539
Main Authors: van Oosterhout, J. (Hans), Heugens, Pursey P. M. A. R., Kaptein, Muel
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Business ethics
Business management
Contracts
Fiduciary management
Fiduciary responsibility
Financial management
Moral contractarianism
Moral principles
Morality
Morals
Networks
Normativity
Social contract
Social theory
Studies
Theory
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Summary:Integrative social contracts theory is arguably the most promising theory of business ethics to date, but often criticized for its inability to produce substantive, action-guiding norms. Rather than importing moral substance from outside the contractualist framework, or abandoning contractualist business ethics (CBE) altogether, we seek to advance CBE by exploring the internal morality of contracting. We demonstrate that substantive norms for guiding and constraining business conduct can be produced without relying on premises from outside the contractualist framework.
ISSN:0363-7425
1930-3807
DOI:10.5465/AMR.2006.21318915