Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

The Relevance and Value of Confucianism in Contemporary Business Ethics

  • Published:
Journal of Business Ethics Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

This article examines the relevance and value of Confucian Ethics to contemporary Business Ethics by comparing their respective perspectives and approaches towards business activities within the modern capitalist framework, the principle of reciprocity and the concept of human virtues. Confucian Ethics provides interesting parallels with contemporary Western-oriented Business Ethics. At the same, it diverges from contemporary Business Ethics in some significant ways. Upon an examination of philosophical texts as well as empirical studies, it is argued that Confucian Ethics is able to provide some unique philosophical and intellectual perspectives in order to forge a richer understanding and analysis of the field of contemporary Business Ethics.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Aristotle (translated by Thompson, J A K): 1976, The Nicomachean Ethics, Penguin Books (“The Nicomachean Ethics”)

  • Boatright J. 2007 Ethics and the Conduct of Business. Prentice Hall, New Jersey

    Google Scholar 

  • Bowie N. E. 1999 Business Ethics: A Kantian Perspective. Blackwell Publishers, Oxford

    Google Scholar 

  • Brody R. G., Coulter J. M., Mihalek P. H. 1998 Whistle-Blowing: A Cross-Cultural Comparison of Ethical Perceptions of U.S. and Japanese Accounting Students. American Business Review 16(2):14–21

    Google Scholar 

  • Carr, A. Z. 2002 ‹Is Business Bluffing Ethical’, extracted from Hartman, L (2002), pp 100–107

  • Chan, W.-T. 1963 A Sourcebook of Chinese Philosophy. Princeton University Press

  • Chiu R. K. 2003 Ethical Judgment and Whistleblowing Intention: Examining the Moderating Role of Locus of Control. Journal of Business Ethics 43:65–74

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ciuilla J. B. 2002 Trust and the Future of Leadership. In Bowie N. E. (ed.) The Blackwell Guide to Business Ethics, Blackwell Publishers, pp 334–351

  • Crisp, R. 1997 Mill on Utilitarianism. Routledge

  • DeGeorge, R. T. 1999 Business Ethics, 5th edition, Prentice Hall

  • Desjardins, J. 2006 An Introduction to Business Ethics, 2nd Edition, McGraw Hill

  • Donaldson T., Werhane P. H., Cording M. 2002 Ethical Issues in Business – A Philosophical Approach. Prentice Hall, New Jersey

    Google Scholar 

  • Drucker, P. F. 1981 Ethical Chic. Forbes pp 160–173

  • Dworkin R. 1989 The Original Position. In Daniels N. (ed), Reading Rawls, Stanford University Press

  • Dunfee T. W., Warren D. E. 2001 Is Guanxi Ethical? A Normative Analysis of Doing Business in China. Journal of Business Ethics 32:191–204

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Fan Y.: 2001, Guanxi’s Consequences: Personal Gains at Social Cost. Journal of Business Ethics 38:371–380

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Fisher, C. and Lovell, A. 2006 Business Ethics and Values. Pearson Education Limited

  • Freeman, E. 2002 Stakeholder Theory of the Modern Corporation. In Donaldson, Werhane and Cording (2002), pp 38–48

  • Friedman, M. 1970 The Social Responsibility of Business is to Increase Profits. New York Times Magazine, 13 September, 1970

  • Fukuyama, F. 1998 ‹Asian Values and the Asian Crisis’, Commentary, February

  • Fung Y. L. (1952) A History of Chinese Philosophy. Princeton University Press

  • Goodpaster, K. 1991 Business Ethics and Stakeholder Analysis. Business Ethics Quarterly January, Vol. 1, No.1

  • Hartman, L. 2002 Perspectives in Business Ethics, Second Edition, McGraw-Hill

  • Hofstede G. H., Bond M. H. 1988 The Confucius Connection: From Cultural Roots To Economic Growth. Organizational Dynamics 16(4):4–21

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hofstede G. H. 1991 Cultures and Organisations. McGraw-Hill, London

    Google Scholar 

  • Hofstede G. H. 2001 Culture’s Consequences. Sage, London

    Google Scholar 

  • Hosmer, L. T.: 2003 The Ethics of Management, Fourth Edition, McGraw-Hill

  • Kant, I. 1996 Practical Philosophy (The Cambridge Edition of the Works of Immanuel Kant), Cambridge University Press

  • Kit-Chun J. L. 2003 Confucian Business Ethics and the Economy. Journal of Business Ethics 43:153–162

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Koehn, D. 2001 Confucian Trustworthiness and the Practice of Business in China. Business Ethics Quarterly:415–429

  • Koehn, D. and Leung, A. S. M. 2004 Western and Asian Business Ethics. In Leung, K. and White, S. (eds.), Handbook of Asian Management, Kluwer Academic Publishers

  • Korsgaard, C. M. 1996 Creating the Kingdom of Ends. Cambridge University Press

  • Larmer R. A. 1992 Whistleblowing and Employee Loyalty. Journal of Business Ethics 11:125–128

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Mallaby, S. 1998 In Asia’s Mirror. The National Interest: 21

  • Marx K., Engels F. 1998 The Communist Manifesto. Verso, London and New York

    Google Scholar 

  • Mill, J. S. 1987 Utilitarianism. Prometheus Books

  • Nagel T. 1973 Rawls on Justice. The Philosophical Review 82(2):220–234

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Newton L. 1992 Virtue and Role: Reflections on the Social Nature of Morality. Business Ethics Quarterly 2(3):357–365

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Nozick, R. 1974 Anarchy, State and Utopia. Basic Books, Inc

  • Nuyen A. T. 1999 Chinese Philosophy and Western Capitalism. Asian Philosophy 9(1):71–79

    Google Scholar 

  • Ornatowski, G. K. 1999 Confucian Values, Japanese Economic Development, and the Creation of a Modern Japanese Ethics. In Enderle, Georges (ed.), International Business Ethics: Challenges and Approaches, University of Notre Dame Press

  • Paine L. S. 1999 Ethics as Character Development: Reflections on the Objective of Ethics Education. In Freeman R. E. (ed), Business Ethics – The State of the Art, Oxford University Press, pp 67–86

  • Rand, A. 1976 The Virtue of Selfishness. Signet

  • Rawls, J. 1972 A Theory of Justice. Oxford University Press

  • Rawls, J. 1993 Political Liberalism. Columbia University Press

  • Romar, E. J. Managerial Harmony: The Confucian Ethics of Peter F. Drucker. Journal of Business Ethics 51:199–210

  • Sim, M. 2001 Aristotle in the Reconstruction of Confucian Ethics. in International Philosophical Quarterly, Vol. XLI, No. 4 Issue No. 164, 453–468

  • Sim, M. 2003 The Moral Self in Confucius and Aristotle. in International Philosophical Quarterly, Vol. 43, No. 4, Issue 172, 439–462

  • Sims R. L., Keenan J. P. 1999 A Cross-Cultural Comparison of Managers’ Whistleblowing Tendencies. International Journal of Value-Based Management 12:137–151

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Smith A. 1937 An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations. Modern Library, New York

    Google Scholar 

  • Solomon R. 1992 Corporate Roles, Personal Virtues: An Aristotelean Approach to Business Ethics. Business Ethics Quarterly 2(3):317

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Solomon R.: 1997, It’s Good Business. (Rowman and Littlefield, Oxford)

    Google Scholar 

  • Solomon, R. 2002 ‹The One-Minute Moralist’, The New World of Business, Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, extracted from Hartman, L: 2002, pp 97–99

  • Steidlmeier P.: 1999, Gift Giving, Bribery and Corruption: Ethical Management of Business Relationships in China? Journal of Business Ethics 20:121–132

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Su C., Sirgy M. J., Littlefield J. E. 2003 Is Guanxi Orientation Bad, Ethically Speaking? A Study of Chinese Enterprises. Journal of Business Ethics 44:303–312

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Su C., J. E. Littlefield: 2001, Entering Guanxi A business Ethical Dilemma in Mainland China? Journal of Business Ethics 33:199–210

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sullivan, R. J. 1994 An Introduction to Kant’s Ethics. Cambridge University Press

  • Tak S. C., King A. Y. 2004 Righteousness and Profitableness: The Moral Choices of Contemporary Confucian Entrepreneurs. Journal of Business Ethics 54:245–260

    Google Scholar 

  • Tamney J. B., Chiang L. H.-L. 2002 Modernization, Globalization, and Confucianism in Chinese Societies. Praeger Publishers, Westport, Connecticut

    Google Scholar 

  • Tavakoli A. A., Keenan J. P., Crnjak-Karanovic B. 2003 Culture and Whistleblowing – An Empirical Study of Croatian and United States Managers Utilizing Hofstede’s Cultural Dimensions. Journal of Business Ethics 43:49–64

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Vendekerckhove W., M. S. R. Commers: 2004, Whistle Blowing and Rational Loyalty. Journal of Business Ethics 53:225–233

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wang Q. J. 1999 The Golden Rule and Interpersonal Care – From a Confucian Perspective. Philosophy East & West 49(4):415–438

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wang G. W. 2004 The Uses of Dynasty Ideology: Confucianism in Contemporary Business. In Richter Frank-Jurgen, Mar Pamela C. M. (eds), Asia’s New Crisis – Renewal Through Total Ethical Management, John Wiley & Sons (Asia) Pte Ltd, Singapore

    Google Scholar 

  • Whitcomb L. L., Erdener C. B., Li C. 1998 Business Ethical Values in China and the U.S. Journal of Business Ethics 17:839–852

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Yao X. Z. 1996 Self-construction and identity: The Confucian self in relation to some Western perceptions. Asian Philosophy 6(3):1–17

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Zhuang J. Y., Thomas S., Miller D. L. 2005 Examining Culture’s Effect on Whistle-blowing and Peer Reporting. Business and Society 44(4):462–486

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgements

I am indeed grateful to Practice Associate Professor George Shenoy, Singapore Management University and Associate Professor A T Nuyen, Department of Philosophy, National University of Singapore for their valuable comments on an earlier draft. I remain solely responsible for any errors and shortcomings.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Law, Singapore Management University, 50 Stamford Road, Singapore, 178899, Singapore

    Gary Kok Yew chan

Authors
  1. Gary Kok Yew chan
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Gary Kok Yew chan.

Additional information

Gary Kok Yew Chan is Assistant Professor of Law at Singapore Management University. Apart from Business Law, he teaches Ethics and Social Responsibility. He has obtained an LL.B (National University of Singapore) and LL.M (School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London) respectively and has published in several reputable law journals including Journal of Business Law, Cambridge Law Journal, Australian Journal of Asian Law, Hong Kong Law Journal and Singapore Journal of Legal Studies. In addition, he holds an M.A. in Southeast Asian Studies (National University of Singapore) and a B.A. in Philosophy (University of London).

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

chan, G.K.Y. The Relevance and Value of Confucianism in Contemporary Business Ethics. J Bus Ethics 77, 347–360 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10551-007-9354-z

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10551-007-9354-z

Keywords

Search

Navigation