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Individual Actions and Corporate Moral Responsibility: A (Reconstituted) Kantian Approach

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  • Tobey Scharding

    (Rutgers Business School - Newark and New Brunswick)

Abstract

This paper examines the resources of Kantian ethics to establish corporate moral responsibility. I defend Matthew Altman’s claim that Kantian ethics cannot hold corporations morally responsible for corporate malfeasance. Rather than following Altman in interpreting this inability as a reason not to use Kantian ethics, however, I argue that the Kantian framework is correct: business ethicists should not seek to hold corporations morally responsible. Instead, they should use Kantian (and/or other ethical-theoretical) resources to criticize the actions of individual businesspeople. I set forth a model for decomposing business actions into their individual parts and reconstituting them in a context-specific “maxim” that Kantian ethics can evaluate. The reconstituted form of Kantian ethics that I defend is better able to manage decision-making complexity than traditional interpretations. To demonstrate the usefulness of my approach, I apply it to the recent Wells Fargo bogus-accounts scandal.

Suggested Citation

  • Tobey Scharding, 2019. "Individual Actions and Corporate Moral Responsibility: A (Reconstituted) Kantian Approach," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 154(4), pages 929-942, February.
    • Handle: RePEc:kap:jbuset:v:154:y:2019:i:4:d:10.1007_s10551-018-3889-z
    DOI: 10.1007/s10551-018-3889-z
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. John Hasnas, 2012. "Reflections on Corporate Moral Responsibility and the Problem Solving Technique of Alexander the Great," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 107(2), pages 183-195, May.
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    2. Gastón Reyes, 2023. "The All-Stakeholders-Considered Case for Corporate Beneficence," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 188(1), pages 37-55, November.

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