IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/cup/buetqu/v20y2010i03p533-543_00.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Ethics and Network Organizations

Author

Listed:
  • Phillips, Robert A.

Abstract

As value chains become longer with increases in outsourcing and subcontracting, the challenges of fixing responsibility become more difficult. Using concepts from the literature on social networks, this paper considers issues of diffusion of responsibility and plausible deniability in such relationships. Specifically, this paper isolates three sources of denial of – or defense against – attributions of responsibility: connection, control and knowledge. It goes on to consider the effects on network density and actor centrality as third parties (tertius illuminans) alter the structure of these networks. Finally, preliminary conclusions are considered including suggestions for addressing these new challenges as well as the potential for conceptual cross-fertilization between network analysis and organizational ethics.

Suggested Citation

  • Phillips, Robert A., 2010. "Ethics and Network Organizations," Business Ethics Quarterly, Cambridge University Press, vol. 20(3), pages 533-543, July.
    • Handle: RePEc:cup:buetqu:v:20:y:2010:i:03:p:533-543_00
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.cambridge.org/core/product/identifier/S1052150X00003079/type/journal_article
    File Function: link to article abstract page
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Alejandra Marin & Ronald Mitchell & Jae Lee, 2015. "The Vulnerability and Strength Duality in Ethnic Business: A Model of Stakeholder Salience and Social Capital," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 130(2), pages 271-289, August.
    2. Michal Zdziarski & Robert G. Boutilier, 2016. "Strategic Challenges in Stakeholder Networks (Strategiczne wyzwania w sieciach interesariuszy)," Problemy Zarzadzania, University of Warsaw, Faculty of Management, vol. 14(64), pages 62-79.
    3. Zahir Dossa & Katrin Kaeufer, 2014. "Understanding Sustainability Innovations Through Positive Ethical Networks," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 119(4), pages 543-559, February.
    4. Alfred L. Luna & Decima Christine Garcia & Shih Yung Chou & Sara Jackson, 2013. "Can Tight Groups At Work Be Detrimental? A Theoretical View Of Gossip From The Network Tie Strength And Density Perspective," Global Journal of Business Research, The Institute for Business and Finance Research, vol. 7(1), pages 91-100.
    5. Degli Antoni, Giacomo & Sacconi, Lorenzo, 2013. "Social responsibility, activism and boycotting in a firm–stakeholders network of games with players’ conformist preferences," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics (formerly The Journal of Socio-Economics), Elsevier, vol. 45(C), pages 216-226.
    6. Stephen Chen, 2018. "Multinational Corporate Power, Influence and Responsibility in Global Supply Chains," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 148(2), pages 365-374, March.
    7. Wade M. Chumney & David Wasieleski & E Günter Schumacher, 2017. "The conflict between U.S. patent protection and technological innovation," Post-Print hal-01768893, HAL.
    8. Saffet A. Uygur & Christopher J. Napier, 2024. "Understanding Fraud in the Not-For-Profit Sector: A Stakeholder Perspective for Charities," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 190(3), pages 569-588, March.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    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:cup:buetqu:v:20:y:2010:i:03:p:533-543_00. 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.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using 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: Kirk Stebbing (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.cambridge.org/beq .

    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.