IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/kap/jbuset/v147y2018i4d10.1007_s10551-017-3506-6.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Strengthening “Giving Voice to Values” in Business Schools by Reconsidering the “Invisible Hand” Metaphor

Author

Listed:
  • Mollie Painter-Morland

    (Nottingham Business School
    IEDC-Bled School of Management)

  • Rosa Slegers

    (Babson College)

Abstract

The main contention of this paper is that our ability to embed a consideration of values into business school curricula is hampered by certain normative parameters that our students have when entering the classroom. If we don’t understand the processes of valuation that underpin our students’ reasoning, our ethics teaching will inevitably miss its mark. In this paper, we analyze one of the most prevalent metaphors that underpin moral arguments about business, and reveal the beliefs and assumptions that underpin it. By revisiting the content of Adam Smith’s “invisible hand” metaphor, we show that the moral content of the metaphor has been significantly misconstrued through its subsequent reception in economic theory. The “Giving Voice to Values” (GVV) pedagogy aims to enable students to act on their tacit values and address the rationalizations that they may encounter for not acting on these values (Gentile in Giving voice to values. How to speak your mind when you know what’s right, Yale University Press, Yale, 2010a; Discussions about ethics in the accounting classroom: student assumptions and faculty paradigms, Darden Business Publishing, 2010b. http://store.darden.virginia.edu/Syllabus%20Copy/Discussions-about-Ethics-in-Accounting_S.pdf ; Educating for values-driven leadership across the curriculum: giving voice to values, Business Expert Press, New York, 2013). We believe our analysis can strengthen the employment of GVV in three ways: (1) understanding tacit blockages to moral action, i.e., how students’ belief in the moral efficacy of the invisible hand could undermine their own sense of moral duty; (2) addressing common rationalizations that may emerge from different assumptions about morally appropriate courses of action in the workplace; and (3) resolving values conflicts on how to act.

Suggested Citation

  • Mollie Painter-Morland & Rosa Slegers, 2018. "Strengthening “Giving Voice to Values” in Business Schools by Reconsidering the “Invisible Hand” Metaphor," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 147(4), pages 807-819, February.
    • Handle: RePEc:kap:jbuset:v:147:y:2018:i:4:d:10.1007_s10551-017-3506-6
    DOI: 10.1007/s10551-017-3506-6
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s10551-017-3506-6
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1007/s10551-017-3506-6?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Gavin Kennedy, 2011. "Adam Smith And The Role Of The Metaphor Of An Invisible Hand," Economic Affairs, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 31(1), pages 53-57, March.
    2. Skip Worden, 2009. "A Genealogy of Business Ethics: A Nietzschean Perspective," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 84(3), pages 427-456, February.
    3. Anthony Brewer, 2009. "On the Other (Invisible) Hand..," History of Political Economy, Duke University Press, vol. 41(3), pages 519-543, Fall.
    4. Daniel Arce & Mary Gentile, 2015. "Giving Voice to Values as a Leverage Point in Business Ethics Education," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 131(3), pages 535-542, October.
    5. William D. Grampp, 2000. "What Did Smith Mean by the Invisible Hand?," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 108(3), pages 441-465, June.
    6. Nozick, Robert, 1994. "Invisible-Hand Explanations," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 84(2), pages 314-318, May.
    7. Edward Romar, 2009. "Noble Markets: The Noble/Slave Ethic in Hayek’s Free Market Capitalism," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 85(1), pages 57-66, March.
    8. David Bevan & Patricia Werhane, 2015. "The Inexorable Sociality of Commerce: The Individual and Others in Adam Smith," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 127(2), pages 327-335, March.
    9. Daniel Diatkine, 2010. "Vanity and the love of system in Theory of Moral Sentiments," The European Journal of the History of Economic Thought, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 17(3), pages 383-404.
    10. Emma Rothschild, 1992. "Adam Smith and conservative economics," Economic History Review, Economic History Society, vol. 45(1), pages 74-96, February.
    11. Jonathan B. Wight, 2007. "The Treatment of Smith's Invisible Hand," The Journal of Economic Education, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 38(3), pages 341-358, July.
    12. George Bragues, 2009. "Adam Smith’s Vision of the Ethical Manager," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 90(4), pages 447-460, December.
    13. Gavin Kennedy, 2009. "Adam Smith and the Invisible Hand: From Metaphor to Myth," Econ Journal Watch, Econ Journal Watch, vol. 6(2), pages 239-263, May.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. David Bevan & Patricia Werhane, 2015. "The Inexorable Sociality of Commerce: The Individual and Others in Adam Smith," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 127(2), pages 327-335, March.
    2. Madarász, Aladár, 2014. "A láthatatlan kéz - szemelvények egy metafora történetéből [The invisible hand - extracts from the history of a metaphor]," Közgazdasági Szemle (Economic Review - monthly of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences), Közgazdasági Szemle Alapítvány (Economic Review Foundation), vol. 0(7), pages 801-844.
    3. Mueller, Paul D., 2021. "Adam Smith on moral judgment: Why people tend to make better judgments within liberal institutions," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 184(C), pages 813-825.
    4. Bruce E. Kaufman, 2016. "Adam Smith’s Economics and the Modern Minimum Wage Debate:The Large Distance Separating Kirkcaldy from Chicago," Journal of Labor Research, Springer, vol. 37(1), pages 29-52, March.
    5. Emiel F.M. Wubben, 2011. "Do Rules and Regulations Bind or Boost Economic Growth?," Chapters, in: Emiel F.M. Wubben (ed.), Institutions and Regulation for Economic Growth?, chapter 1, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    6. Paul Oslington, 2012. "God and the Market: Adam Smith’s Invisible Hand," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 108(4), pages 429-438, July.
    7. Dupont, Brandon & Durham, Yvonne, 2021. "Adam Smith and the not so invisible hand: A revision for the undergraduate classroom," International Review of Economics Education, Elsevier, vol. 36(C).
    8. Prabhir Poruthiyil, 2013. "Weaning Business Ethics from Strategic Economism: The Development Ethics Perspective," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 116(4), pages 735-749, September.
    9. Peter Minowitz, 2004. "Adam Smith's Invisible Hands," Econ Journal Watch, Econ Journal Watch, vol. 1(3), pages 381-412, December.
    10. Callum Williams, 2015. "Famine: Adam Smith and Foucauldian Political Economy," Scottish Journal of Political Economy, Scottish Economic Society, vol. 62(2), pages 171-190, May.
    11. Andreia Tolciu, 2010. "The Economics of Social Interactions: An Interdisciplinary Ground for Social Scientists?," Forum for Social Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 39(3), pages 223-242, January.
    12. Gavin Kennedy, 2015. "Adam Smith's Use of the 'Gravitation' Metaphor," Economic Thought, World Economics Association, vol. 4(1), pages 67-79, March.
    13. Jonathan B. Wight, 2005. "Adam Smith and Greed," Journal of Private Enterprise, The Association of Private Enterprise Education, vol. 21(Fall 2005), pages 46-58.
    14. Xin Liu & Byron Y. Lee & Tae-Yeol Kim & Yaping Gong & Xiaoming Zheng, 2023. "Double-Edged Effects of Creative Personality on Moral Disengagement and Unethical Behaviors: Dual Motivational Mechanisms and a Situational Contingency," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 185(2), pages 449-466, June.
    15. Avner Offer, 2012. "Self-interest, Sympathy and the Invisible Hand : From Adam Smith to Market Liberalism," Economic Thought, World Economics Association, vol. 1(2), pages 1-1, December.
    16. Carlos Rodríguez Braun, 2021. "Adam Smith’s liberalism," The Review of Austrian Economics, Springer;Society for the Development of Austrian Economics, vol. 34(4), pages 465-478, December.
    17. Anne Christensen & Jane Cote & Claire Kamm Latham, 2018. "Developing Ethical Confidence: The Impact of Action-Oriented Ethics Instruction in an Accounting Curriculum," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 153(4), pages 1157-1175, December.
    18. Pedro Garcia Duarte & Yann Giraud, 2014. "Chasing the B: A Bibliographic Account of Economics’ Relation to its Past, 1991-2011," Working Papers, Department of Economics 2014_06, University of São Paulo (FEA-USP).
    19. Lebano, A., 2010. "The concept of corporate social responsibility," ISS Working Papers - General Series 21243, International Institute of Social Studies of Erasmus University Rotterdam (ISS), The Hague.
    20. Enrico Colombatto, 2014. "Hayek and economic policy (the Austrian road to the third way)," Chapters, in: Roger W. Garrison & Norman Barry (ed.), Elgar Companion to Hayekian Economics, chapter 15, pages 343-363, Edward Elgar Publishing.

    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:kap:jbuset:v:147:y:2018:i:4:d:10.1007_s10551-017-3506-6. 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.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with 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: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.springer.com .

    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.