On integrative social contracts theory and corporate decision‐making in a polarized political economy

2021 ◽  
Vol 126 (1) ◽  
pp. 3-23
Author(s):  
Catharyn Baird ◽  
Don Mayer
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Political Economy ◽  
Integrative Social Contracts Theory ◽  
Social Contracts ◽  
Social Contracts Theory ◽  
Integrative Social

scholarly journals The Enduring Potential of Justified Hypernorms

2019 ◽  
Vol 29 (03) ◽  
pp. 317-342
Author(s):  
Markus Scholz ◽  
Gastón de los Reyes ◽  
N. Craig Smith
Keyword(s):  
Business Ethics ◽  
Stakeholder Engagement ◽  
Integrative Social Contracts Theory ◽  
Social Contracts ◽  
Profound Influence ◽  
Starting Point ◽  
Prior Literature ◽  
Social Contracts Theory ◽  
Outer Bounds ◽  
Integrative Social

ABSTRACT:The profound influence of Thomas Donaldson and Thomas Dunfee’s integrative social contracts theory (ISCT) on the field of business ethics has been challenged by Andreas Scherer and Guido Palazzo’s Habermasian approach, which has achieved prominence of late with articles that expressly question the defensibility of ISCT’s hypernorms. This article builds on recent efforts by Donaldson and Scherer to bridge their accounts by providing discursive foundations to the hypernorms at the heart of the ISCT framework. Extending prior literature, we propose an ISCT* framework designed to retain ISCT’s practical virtue of managerial guidance while answering the demands of Scherer and Palazzo’s discursive account. By subscribing to a suitable portfolio of discursively justified hypernorms, we argue, companies unlock the valuable moral guidance of ISCT*, which says to treat these hypernorms as unequivocal outer bounds to the pursuit of business and as a starting point to tailor local norms through discursive stakeholder engagement.

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