IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/kap/jbuset/v196y2025i3d10.1007_s10551-024-05708-w.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Mapping the Contours of Blame: An Account of the Moral Boundaries of Organizations

Author

Listed:
  • Rita Mota

    (Ramon Llull University)

  • Alan D. Morrison

    (University of Oxford)

Abstract

This paper presents an account of the moral boundaries of organizations. We define an organization’s moral boundary to encompass all of the actions for which it could be held morally responsible. Our theory requires us to view organizations as subjects that act in the world, rather than as objects that are used as tools; that is, it requires us to focus on corporate moral agency. We present a process model for determining whether a given action lies within an organization’s moral boundary, and we discuss how an organization’s moral boundary can be created, destroyed, or modified as a result of deliberate choices by human and organizational actors. Our article contributes to the literature by conceptualizing the distinction between organizations as subjects and organizations as objects, and so clarifying the distinction between legal and moral boundaries; by recentering the discussion of boundaries on organizational actions rather than on contingent institutional features; and by adding nuance to the assignment of moral responsibility in complex organizational networks and in situations where one corporate moral agent depends upon another for its existence.

Suggested Citation

  • Rita Mota & Alan D. Morrison, 2025. "Mapping the Contours of Blame: An Account of the Moral Boundaries of Organizations," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 196(3), pages 523-537, January.
  • Handle: RePEc:kap:jbuset:v:196:y:2025:i:3:d:10.1007_s10551-024-05708-w
    DOI: 10.1007/s10551-024-05708-w
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s10551-024-05708-w
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.

    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1007/s10551-024-05708-w?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. Hart, Oliver & Moore, John, 1990. "Property Rights and the Nature of the Firm," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 98(6), pages 1119-1158, December.
    2. Kevin Gibson, 2011. "Toward an Intermediate Position on Corporate Moral Personhood," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 101(1), pages 71-81, March.
    3. Morrison, Alan D. & Mota, Rita & Wilhelm, William J., 2022. "Relationships, Authority, and Reasons: A Second-Personal Account of Corporate Moral Agency," Business Ethics Quarterly, Cambridge University Press, vol. 32(2), pages 322-347, April.
    4. Birger Wernerfelt, 1984. "A resource‐based view of the firm," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 5(2), pages 171-180, April.
    5. Grossman, Sanford J & Hart, Oliver D, 1986. "The Costs and Benefits of Ownership: A Theory of Vertical and Lateral Integration," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 94(4), pages 691-719, August.
    6. Nuno Ornelas Martins, 2018. "Justice and the Social Ontology of the Corporation," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 153(1), pages 17-28, November.
    7. Painter-Morland, Mollie, 2007. "Defining Accountability in A Network Society," Business Ethics Quarterly, Cambridge University Press, vol. 17(3), pages 515-534, July.
    8. Luis Araujo & Anna Dubois & Lars‐Erik Gadde, 2003. "The Multiple Boundaries of the Firm," Journal of Management Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 40(5), pages 1255-1277, July.
    9. Tony Lawson, 2015. "The nature of the firm and peculiarities of the corporation," Cambridge Journal of Economics, Cambridge Political Economy Society, vol. 39(1), pages 1-32.
    10. Velasquez, Manuel, 2003. "Debunking Corporate Moral Responsibility," Business Ethics Quarterly, Cambridge University Press, vol. 13(4), pages 531-562, October.
    11. Kraakman, Reinier & Armour, John & Davies, Paul & Enriques, Luca & Hansmann, Henry & Hertig, Gerard & Hopt, Klaus & Kanda, Hideki & Pargendler, Mariana & Ringe, Wolf-Georg & Rock, Edward, 2017. "The Anatomy of Corporate Law: A Comparative and Functional Approach," OUP Catalogue, Oxford University Press, edition 3, number 9780198724315, Decembrie.
    12. William Wines & J. Hamilton, 2009. "On Changing Organizational Cultures by Injecting New Ideologies: The Power of Stories," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 89(3), pages 433-447, October.
    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. Jolink, Albert & Niesten, Eva, 2012. "Recent qualitative advances on hybrid organizations: Taking stock, looking ahead," Scandinavian Journal of Management, Elsevier, vol. 28(2), pages 149-161.
    2. Chen, J. & Elliott, M. & Koh, A., 2020. "Capability Accumulation and Conglomeratization in the Information Age," Cambridge Working Papers in Economics 2069, Faculty of Economics, University of Cambridge.
    3. Mauricio Medeiros Jr & Bernardus Van Doornik, 2021. "Human Capital and Startup Financing," Working Papers Series 546, Central Bank of Brazil, Research Department.
    4. Kim, Sung Min & Mahoney, Joseph T., 2006. "Collaborative Planning, Forecasting, and Replenishment (CPFR) as a Relational Contract: An Incomplete Contracting Perspective," Working Papers 06-0102, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, College of Business.
    5. Kaplow, Louis, 2021. "Horizontal merger analysis," International Journal of Industrial Organization, Elsevier, vol. 79(C).
    6. Adam Leaver & Keir Martin, 2021. "‘Dams and flows’: boundary formation and dislocation in the financialised firm," Review of Evolutionary Political Economy, Springer, vol. 2(3), pages 403-429, December.
    7. Filipe J. Sousa & Luís M. de Castro, 2005. "Relationship significance: is it sufficiently explained?," FEP Working Papers 183, Universidade do Porto, Faculdade de Economia do Porto.
    8. Cécile Cézanne & Marianne Rubinstein, 2010. "La RSE comme instrument de la gouvernance d'entreprise," Post-Print hal-00628645, HAL.
    9. Roland Bel, 2018. "A property rights theory of competitive advantage," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 39(6), pages 1678-1703, June.
    10. Kaplow, Louis & Shapiro, Carl, 2007. "Antitrust," Handbook of Law and Economics, in: A. Mitchell Polinsky & Steven Shavell (ed.), Handbook of Law and Economics, edition 1, volume 2, chapter 15, pages 1073-1225, Elsevier.
    11. Cécile Cézanne, 2012. "Berle and Means," Chapters, in: Michael Dietrich & Jackie Krafft (ed.), Handbook on the Economics and Theory of the Firm, chapter 7, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    12. Scott Gehlbach & Konstantin Sonin & Ekaterina Zhuravskaya, 2010. "Businessman Candidates," American Journal of Political Science, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 54(3), pages 718-736, July.
    13. Peter G. Klein & Michael E. Sykuta, 2010. "Editors’ Introduction," Chapters, in: Peter G. Klein & Michael E. Sykuta (ed.), The Elgar Companion to Transaction Cost Economics, chapter 1, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    14. Schmid, Andreas, 2007. "Incentive Compatibility and Efficiency in the contractual Insurer-Provider Relationship: Economic Theory and practical Implications: The Case of North Carolina," MPRA Paper 23311, University Library of Munich, Germany, revised 2008.
    15. Surajeet Chakravarty & W. Bentley MacLeod, 2006. "Construction Contracts (or “How to Get the Right Building at the Right Price?”)," CESifo Working Paper Series 1714, CESifo.
    16. Oliver Hart, 2013. "Noncontractible Investments and Reference Points," Games, MDPI, vol. 4(3), pages 1-20, August.
    17. Schmitz, Patrick W., 2021. "On the optimality of outsourcing when vertical integration can mitigate information asymmetries," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 202(C).
    18. Dermot Leahy & Catia Montagna, 2006. "'Make-or-Buy' in International Oligopoly and the Role of Competitive Pressure," Dundee Discussion Papers in Economics 197, Economic Studies, University of Dundee.
    19. Arti Grover, 2008. "Vertical FDI versus Outsourcing: A Welfare Comparison from the Perspective of the Host Country," DEGIT Conference Papers c013_009, DEGIT, Dynamics, Economic Growth, and International Trade.
    20. Nathan H. Miller, 2008. "Competition When Consumers Value Firm Scope," EAG Discussions Papers 200807, Department of Justice, Antitrust Division.

    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:196:y:2025:i:3:d:10.1007_s10551-024-05708-w. 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.