IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/kap/jbuset/v196y2025i3d10.1007_s10551-024-05896-5.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Contributing to Business Ethics though Thick Conceptualization

Author

Listed:
  • Michelle Greenwood

    (Monash University)

  • Gazi Islam

    (Grenoble Ecole de Management)

Abstract

In this editorial essay we argue that contribution to business ethics theory and practice can be achieved through thick ethical conceptualization, that is, by working with concepts in a manner that is both deeply descriptive and normative. Rather than foreclose on what is ethical or unethical, good or bad, permissible or impermissible, we encourage all authors submitting to the Journal of Business Ethics to carefully and clearly explicate their ethical analysis of their study’s focal phenomena. For empirical papers this means they should “explain the ethics” within their descriptions of empirical phenomena, while for normative ethical papers it means that authors should embed their analysis in a thick understanding of the contexts in which these analyses are applied. Understanding concepts as both descriptive and normative provides stronger conceptualization and capacity to theorize. It also provides greater nuance to recognize and interpret novel and complex findings. Below, we offer some reflections about the varieties of ethical “thinning” and ideas about how authors can work with thick concepts to make an ethical contribution.

Suggested Citation

  • Michelle Greenwood & Gazi Islam, 2025. "Contributing to Business Ethics though Thick Conceptualization," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 196(3), pages 495-498, January.
    • Handle: RePEc:kap:jbuset:v:196:y:2025:i:3:d:10.1007_s10551-024-05896-5
    DOI: 10.1007/s10551-024-05896-5
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s10551-024-05896-5
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1007/s10551-024-05896-5?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. Phillips, Robert & Freeman, R. Edward & Wicks, Andrew C., 2003. "What Stakeholder Theory is Not," Business Ethics Quarterly, Cambridge University Press, vol. 13(4), pages 479-502, 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. Melinda Timea FÜLÖP & Mirela-Oana PINTEA, 2014. "Effects Of The New Regulation And Corporate Governance Of The Audit Profession," SEA - Practical Application of Science, Romanian Foundation for Business Intelligence, Editorial Department, issue 4, pages 545-554, July.
    2. Mara Del Baldo, 2012. "Corporate social responsibility and corporate governance in Italian SMEs: the experience of some “spirited businesses”," Journal of Management & Governance, Springer;Accademia Italiana di Economia Aziendale (AIDEA), vol. 16(1), pages 1-36, February.
    3. Yang Deng & Tze San Ong & Rosmila Senik, 2024. "Trick or treat? A bibliometric literature review of corporate social responsibility and earnings management," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 31(5), pages 4361-4383, September.
    4. Ruben Burga & Davar Rezania, 2016. "Stakeholder theory in social entrepreneurship: a descriptive case study," Journal of Global Entrepreneurship Research, Springer;UNESCO Chair in Entrepreneurship, vol. 6(1), pages 1-15, December.
    5. Robert E. Till & Mary Beth Yount, 2019. "Governance and Incentives: Is It Really All about the Money?," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 159(3), pages 605-618, October.
    6. Yuan Ding & Thomas Jeanjean & Hervé Stolowy, 2013. "Accounting for Stakeholders or Shareholders? The Case of R&D Reporting," Post-Print hal-01002936, HAL.
    7. Francesco Di Maddaloni & Roya Derakhshan, 2019. "A Leap from Negative to Positive Bond. A Step towards Project Sustainability," Administrative Sciences, MDPI, vol. 9(2), pages 1-19, June.
    8. Fracarolli Nunes, Mauro & Lee Park, Camila & Shin, Hyunju, 2021. "Corporate social and environmental irresponsibilities in supply chains, contamination, and damage of intangible resources: A behavioural approach," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 241(C).
    9. A. Heene & N. A. Dentchev, 2004. "A strategic perspective on stakeholder management," Working Papers of Faculty of Economics and Business Administration, Ghent University, Belgium 04/253, Ghent University, Faculty of Economics and Business Administration.
    10. Engy Mohsen El Hawary & Iman Mamdouh Arafa, 2018. "Studying the Effect of Stakeholders on the Disclosure of Corporate Social Responsibility by Banks: Evidence from Egypt," Accounting and Finance Research, Sciedu Press, vol. 7(4), pages 200-200, November.
    11. Hans De Geer & Tommy Borglund & Magnus Frostenson, 2009. "Reconciling CSR with the Role of the Corporation in Welfare States: The Problematic Swedish Example," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 89(3), pages 269-283, November.
    12. Kourula, Arno, 2010. "Corporate engagement with non-governmental organizations in different institutional contexts--A case study of a forest products company," Journal of World Business, Elsevier, vol. 45(4), pages 395-404, October.
    13. Cle‐Anne Gabriel & Kamran Shafique, 2024. "An ethical salience framework to achieve sustainable development goals," Sustainable Development, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 32(4), pages 3213-3225, August.
    14. Francesco Perrini & Angeloantonio Russo & Antonio Tencati & Clodia Vurro, 2011. "Deconstructing the Relationship Between Corporate Social and Financial Performance," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 102(1), pages 59-76, March.
    15. Nina Evans & Janet Sawyer, 2010. "CSR and stakeholders of small businesses in regional South Australia," Social Responsibility Journal, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 6(3), pages 433-451, August.
    16. Adam Arian & John Sands & Stuart Tooley, 2023. "Industry and Stakeholder Impacts on Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) and Financial Performance: Consumer vs. Industrial Sectors," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(16), pages 1-21, August.
    17. Pierre Baret & Vincent Helfrich, 2019. "The “trilemma” of non-financial reporting and its pitfalls," Journal of Management & Governance, Springer;Accademia Italiana di Economia Aziendale (AIDEA), vol. 23(2), pages 485-511, June.
    18. Hiney, Noel & Efthymiou, Marina & Morgenroth, Edgar, 2023. "Impact of Covid-19 on Irish airport stakeholder relationships," Annals of Tourism Research, Elsevier, vol. 102(C).
    19. Samantha Miles, 2017. "Stakeholder Theory Classification: A Theoretical and Empirical Evaluation of Definitions," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 142(3), pages 437-459, May.
    20. Andrew West, 2016. "Applying Metaethical and Normative Claims of Moral Relativism to (Shareholder and Stakeholder) Models of Corporate Governance," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 135(2), pages 199-215, May.

    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_s10551-024-05896-5. 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.