Abstract
At first glance it might seem that innovation and ethics are two opposing concepts. Ethics has a prescriptive element. It sets out what we can and cannot do, and therefore limits our scope of action. By contrast, innovation leads to doing things differently, breaking the mold, overcoming barriers. In this sense, there may be those who would believe that ethics could limit innovation. But that view misinterprets what ethics is all about. Ethics cannot be reduced to a legalistic view of human behavior, much less to a negative view that defines ethics as a list of prohibitions. A positive, comprehensive view of ethics will make us realize that ethics and innovation are closely related: that innovation – like any other human activity – is deeply rooted in ethics, and that ethics inspires and encourages innovation. In this chapter we will put aside the ethical dilemmas that may arise with respect to innovation, and will move into a more conceptual and positive dimension.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
References
Clark WH Jr, Vranka L (2012) The Need and Rationale for the Benefit Corporation, White Paper.http://benefitcorp.net/storage/documents/The_Need_and_Rationale_for_Benefit_Corporations_ April_2012.pdf, version 1/26/12
Drucker PF (1954) The practice of management. Harper & Row, New York
Eisenberger R, Byron K (2011) Rewards and Creativity. In: Runco MA, Pritzker SR (eds) Encyclopedia of creativity, vol 2. Academic, San Diego, pp 313–318
Eisenberger R, Rhoades L (2001) Incremental effects of rewards on creativity. J Pers Soc Psychol 81:728–741
Fontrodona J, Sison AJG (2006) The nature of the firm, agency theory and shareholder theory: a critique from philosophical anthropology. J Bus Ethics 66(1):33–42
Fontrodona J, Guillén M, Rodríguez A (2010) La ética de la empresa en la encrucijada. Eunsa, Pamplona
Freeman RE (1984) Strategic management: a stakeholder approach. Pitman, Boston
Grant AM, Berg JM (2011) Prosocial motivation at work: when, why, and how making a difference makes a difference. In: Cameron K, Spreitzer G (eds) Oxford handbook of positive organizational scholarship. Oxford University Press, New York, pp 28–44
Grant AM, Berry JW (2011) The necessity of others is the mother of invention: intrinsic and prosocial motivations, perspective taking, and creativity. Acad Manage J 54(1):73–96
Hildreth PM, Kim C (2004) Knowledge networks: innovation through communities of practice. Idea Group Publishers, Hershey
Levin-Rozalis M (2010) Using abductive research logic: ‘the logic of discovery’, to construct a rigorous explanation of amorphous evaluation findings. J MultiDiscip Eval 6(13):11–24
Nubiola J (2005) The classification of the sciences and cross-disciplinarity. Trans Charles S Peirce Soc 41(2):271–282
Peirce CS (1931–1958) In: Hartshorne C, Weiss P, Burks AW (eds) Collected papers of Charles Sanders Peirce, vol 1–8. Harvard University Press, Cambridge, MA
Porter ME, Kramer MR (2011) Creating shared value. Harv Bus Rev 89(1/2):62–77
Reichertz J (2009) Abduction: the logic of discovery of grounded theory. Forum Qualitative Sozialforschung/Forum Qual Soc Res 11(1), Art. 13, http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:0114-fqs1001135
Sawyer K (2007) Group genius: the creative power of collaboration. Basic Books, Cambridge, MA
Turrisi PA (1990) Peirce’s logic of discovery: abduction and the universal categories. Trans Charles S Peirce Soc 26(4):465–497
Werhane PH (1998) ‘Moral imagination and the search for ethical decision-making in management’, The Ruffin series of the society for business ethics. Bus Ethics Q 1:75–98
Werhane PH (2002) Moral imagination and systems thinking. J Bus Ethics 38(1/2):33–42
Yunus M (2007a) Creating a world without poverty. Social business and the future of capitalism. Public Affairs, New York, p 320
Yunus M (2007b) Creating a world without poverty. Author’s summary, http://www.muhammadyunus.org/Publications/creating-a-world-without-poverty
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2013 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Fontrodona, J. (2013). The Relation Between Ethics and Innovation. In: Osburg, T., Schmidpeter, R. (eds) Social Innovation. CSR, Sustainability, Ethics & Governance. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-36540-9_3
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-36540-9_3
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg
Print ISBN: 978-3-642-36539-3
Online ISBN: 978-3-642-36540-9
eBook Packages: Business and EconomicsBusiness and Management (R0)