Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

A Holistic Corporate Responsibility Model: Integrating Values, Discourses and Actions

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

Abstract

The corporate responsibility (CR) discussion has so far been rather fragmented as academics tackle it from their own areas of expertise, which guarantees in-depth analyses, but leaves room for broader syntheses. This research is a synthetic, interdisciplinary exercise: it integrates philosophical, psychological and managerial perspectives of corporate responsibility into a more holistic CR-model for the benefit of academics, companies and their interest groups. CR usually comprises three areas: environmental, social and economic responsibilities. In all these areas there should be a match between corporate values, discourses and actions. The aim of this multidisciplinary research is to build a CR-model by integrating (1) utilitarian/egoistic, duty/rights/justice and virtue ethical corporate values with (2) increased consciousness of psychological defences in corporate discourses, in order to achieve (3) responsible environmental, social and economic corporate actions. The resulting CR-model can be tested in companies and executed through corporate strategic and operational management.

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

  • Agle B. R., Mitchell R. K., Sonnenfeld J. A. (1999) Who Matters to CEOs? An Investigation of Stakeholder Attributes and Salience, Corporate Performance, CEOs Values. Academy of Management Journal 42:507–525

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Aristotle: 348 B.C. ‚Ethics’, in J. Barnes (ed.), The Complete Works of Aristotle (Princeton University Press, Princeton, 1988)

  • Bansal P., Roth K. (2000) Why Companies Go Green: A Model of Ecological Responsiveness. Academy of Management Review 43:717–736

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bell W. (1997) Foundations of Futures Studies. Human Science for a New Era. Volume 2. Values, Objectivity and Good Society. Transaction, New Brunswick and London

    Google Scholar 

  • Bentham, J.: 1789, An Introduction to the Principles of Morals and Legislation (eds. by J. H. Burns and H. L. A. Hart) (Athlone Press, London, 1970)

  • Bradford J. L., Garrett D. E. (1995) The Effectiveness of Corporate Communicative Responses to Accusations of Unethical Behaviour. Journal of Business Ethics 14:875–892

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Brown A. D. (1997) Narcissism, Identity and Legitimacy. Academy of Management Review 22:643–686

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Brown A. D., Starkey K. (2000) Organizational Identity and Learning: A Psycho-Dynamic Perspective. Academy of Management Review 25:102–120

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Buddha: around 540–480 B.C., Dhammapada, trans. by J.␣Mascaró (Penguin Books, London, 1973)

  • Cafaro P. (2001) Thoreau, Leopold, and Carson: Toward an Environmental Virtue Ethics. Environmental Ethics 22:3–17

    Google Scholar 

  • Cameron, K., J. E. Dutton and R. E. Quinn (eds.): 2003, Positive Organizational Scholarship: Foundations of a New Discipline (Berrett and Koehler, San Francisco)

  • Carroll A. B. (1979) A Three-Dimensional Conceptual Model of Corporate Social Performance. Academy of Management Review 4:497–506

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Carroll A. B. (1995) Stakeholder Thinking in Three Models of Management Morality: A Perspective with Strategic Implications. In: Näsi J. (ed.). Understanding Stakeholder Thinking. Gummerus, Jyväskylä, pp 47–74

    Google Scholar 

  • Carroll A. B. (1999) Corporate Social Responsibility: Evolution of a Definitional Construct. Business and Society 38:268–295

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Carroll A. B. (2004) Managing Ethically with Global Stakeholders: A Present and Future Challenge. Academy of Management Executive 18:114–120

    Google Scholar 

  • Chambers, R. J. H.: 1987, ‚Sustainable Livelihoods, Environment, and Development: Putting Poor Rural People First’, IDS Discussion Paper No 240 (University of Sussex, Brighton)

  • Clarkson M. B. (1995) A Stakeholder Framework for Analysing and Evaluating Corporate Social Performance. Academy of Management Review 20:92–117

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Colby, M. E.: 1990, ‚Environmental Management and Development. The Evolution of Paradigms’, World Bank Discussion Papers No 80 (World Bank, New York)

  • Crockett C. (2005) The Cultural Paradigm of Virtue. Journal of Business Ethics 62:191–208

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • DesJardins J. (1998). Corporate Environmental Responsibility. Journal of Business Ethics 17:825–838

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Donaldson T. (1996) Values and Tension: Ethics Away from Home. Harvard Business Review 74(5):48–58

    Google Scholar 

  • Eden S. (1999) We Have the Facts – How Business Claims Legitimacy in the Environmental Debate. Environment and Planning A 31:1295–1309

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Feldman S. P. (2003) Weak Spots in Business Ethics: A Psycho-Analytic Study of Competition and Memory in “Death of a Salesman”. Journal of Business Ethics 44:391–404

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Figge F. (2005) Value-Based Environmental Management. From Environmental Shareholder Value to Environmental Option Value. Business Strategy and the Environment 12:19–30

    Google Scholar 

  • Fineman S. (1996) Emotional Subtexts in Corporate Greening. Organizational Studies 17:479–500

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Fineman S. (1998) The Natural Environment, Organization and Ethics. In: Parker M. (ed). Ethics and Organizations. Sage, London, pp. 238–252

    Google Scholar 

  • Frederick W. C. (1986) Toward CSR3: Why Ethical Analysis is Indispensable and Unavoidable in Corporate Affairs. California Management Review 28(2):126–144

    Google Scholar 

  • Gewirth A. (1978) Reason and Morality. Chicago University Press, Chicago

    Google Scholar 

  • Gladwin, T. N., J. J. Kennelly and T-S. Krause: 1995, ‚Shifting Paradigms for Sustainable Development: Implications for Management Theory and Research’, Academy of Management Review 20 (October), 874–907

  • Goodpaster G. (1983) The Concept of Corporate Responsibility. Journal of Business Ethics 2:1–22

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hart S. L. (1995) A Natural-Resource-Based View of the Firm. Academy of Management Journal 37:986–1014

    Google Scholar 

  • Hart S. L., Milstein M. B. (2003) Creating Sustainable Value. Academy of Management Executive 17:56–69

    Google Scholar 

  • Hobbes, T.: 1651, Leviathan, or the Matter, Forme, and Power of a Commonwealth Ecclesiasticall and Civill (ed. by R. Tuck) (Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 1991)

  • Hoffman A. J. (1999) Institutional Evolution and Change: Environmentalism and the U.S Chemical Industry. Academy of Management Journal 42:351–371

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Iyer G. R. (1999) Business, Consumers and Sustainable Living in an Interconnected World: A Multilateral Ecocentric Approach. Journal of Business Ethics 20:273–288

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kant, I.: 1785, Grundlegung zur metaphysik der sitten (mit ein kooperativer kommentar von O. Hoffe) (Klostermann, Frankfurt am Main, 1999)

  • Ketola T. (2004) Eco-Psychological Profiling Model: An Oil Company Example. Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management 11:150–166

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ketola, T.: 2005a, ‚A Holistic Corporate Responsibility (CR-) Model’, in European Academy of Management Conference (TUM, Munich)

  • Ketola, T.: 2005b, ‚Putting a Corporate Responsibility (CR-) Model into Practice’, in European Academy of Management Conference (TUM, Munich)

  • Ketola T. (2006a) Corporate Psychological Defences: An Oil Spill Case. Journal of Business Ethics 65:149–161

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ketola T. (2006b) From CR-Psychopaths to Responsible Corporations: Waking up the Inner Sleeping Beauty of Companies. Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management 13:98–107

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kets de Vries M. F. R. (2001) Struggling with the Demon: Perspectives on Individual and Organizational Irrationality. Psychosocial Press, Madison

    Google Scholar 

  • Kets de Vries M. F. R., Miller D. (1984) The Neurotic Organization. Jossey-Bass, San Francisco and London

    Google Scholar 

  • Kets de Vries M. F. R., Miller D. (1991) Leadership Styles and Organizational Cultures: The Shaping of Neurotic Organizations. In: Kets de Vries M. F. R. (ed). Organizations on the Couch: Clinical Perspectives on Organisational Behaviour and Change. Jossey-Bass, San Francisco, pp. 243–263

    Google Scholar 

  • Khera I. P. (2001) Business Ethics East vs. West: Myths and Realities. Journal of Business Ethics 30:29–39

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Koehn D. (1999) What Can Eastern Philosophy Teach Us About Business Ethics? Journal of Business Ethics 19:71–79

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lao Tzu: around 571–480 B.C., Dao de jing (eds. by G.-F. Feng and J. English) (Randon House, London, 1972)

  • van Marrewijk M. (2003) Concepts and Definitions of CSR and Corporate Sustainability: Between Agency and Communion. Journal of Business Ethics 44:95–105

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Mill, J. S.: 1861, Utilitarianism (ed. by R. Crisp) (Oxford University Press, Oxford, 1998)

  • Miller D. (1993) The Architecture of Simplicity. Academy of Management Review 18:116–138

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Nahapiet, J., L. Gratton and H. O. Rocha: 2005, ‚Knowledge and Relationships: When Cooperation is the Norm’, European Management Review 2(1), 3–14

    Google Scholar 

  • Nurmi, R.: 1984, ‚Aristotle and Management’, Scandinavian Journal of Management Studies 1 (August), 65–73

  • Nussbaum, M. C.: 1993, ‚Non-Relative Virtues: An Aristotelian Approach’, in M. C. Nussbaum and A. Sen (eds.), The Quality of Life (Oxford University Press, Oxford)

  • Näsi J., Näsi S., Phillips N., Zyglidopoulos S. (1997) The Evolution of Corporate Social Responsiveness: An Exploratory Study of Finnish and Canadian Forestry Companies. Business and Society 36:296–321

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Oppegaard, K. and M. Statler: 2005, ‚Practical Wisdom – Integrating Ethics and Effectiveness in Organizations’, in European Academy of Management Conference (TUM, Munich)

  • O’Riordan, T.: 1981, Environmentalism, 2nd rev. edition (Prion, London)

  • Pearce, D. (ed): 1991, Blueprint 2. Greening the World Economy (Earthscan, London)

  • Porter, M. E.: 1991, ‚America’s Green Strategy’, Scientific American April: 96

  • Porter, M. E. and C. van der Linde: 1995, ‚Green and Competitive: Ending the Stalemate’, Harvard Business Review 73 (September–October), 120–134

  • Purser R. E., Park C., Montuori A. (1995) Limits to Anthropocentrism: Toward an Ecocentric Organization Paradigm? Academy of Management Review 20:1053–1089

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Rawls J. (1971) The Theory of Justice Oxford University Press, Oxford

    Google Scholar 

  • Rhee S.-K., Lee S.-Y. (2003) Dynamic Change of Corporate Environmental Strategy: Rhetoric and Reality. Business Strategy and the Environment 12:175–190

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Robertson C. J., Crittenden W. F. (2003) Mapping Moral Philosophies: Strategic Implications for Multinational Firms. Strategic Management Journal 24:385–392

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Roome, N.: 2006, ‚Company Strategies for Corporate Social Responsibility and Sustainability in an Era of␣Disjointed-Globalisation’, in Nordic Academy of Management Conference, Umeå, Sweden, 16–18 March␣2006, Conference Proceedings: http://www.usbe, umu.se/nff2006

  • Sen, A.: 1995, ‚Gender Inequality and Theories of Justice’, in M. Nussbaum and J. Glover (eds.), Women, Culture and Development: A Study of Human Capabilities (Clarendon Press, Oxford)

  • Shrivastava P. (1995) The Role of Corporations in Achieving Ecological Sustainability. Academy of Management Review 20:936–960

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Solomon, R. C.: 1999, ‚Business Ethics and Virtue’, in R.␣E. Frederick (ed.), A Companion to Business Ethics (Blackwell Publications, Oxford)

  • Solomon R. C. (2003) Ethics and Excellence Oxford University Press, Oxford

    Google Scholar 

  • de Spinoza, B.: 1677, Ethics. On the Correction of the Understanding (Dent, London, 1959)

  • Suchman M. C. (1995) Managing Legitimacy: Strategic and Institutional Approaches. Academy of Management Review 20:571–610

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Swajkowski E. (1992) Accounting for Organizational Misconduct. Journal of Business Ethics 11:401–411

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Takala T. (1999) Ownership, Responsibility and Leadership – A Historical Perspective. International Journal of Social Economics 26:742–752

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wartick S. L., Cochran P. L. (1985) The Evolution of the Corporate Social Performance Model. Academy of Management Review 10:758–769

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • WCED: 1987, Our Common Future, Report on the World Conference on the Environment and Development (Oxford University Press, Oxford)

  • Welford R. (1995) Environmental Strategy and Sustainable Development. The Corporate Strategy for the 21st Century. Routledge, London and New York

    Google Scholar 

  • Welford R. (2002) Globalization, Corporate Social Responsibility and Human Rights. Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management 9:1–7

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Werhane P. H. (2000) Business Ethics and the Origins of Contemporary Capitalism: Economics and Ethics in the Work of Adam Smith and Hebert Spencer. Journal of Business Ethics 24:185–198

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wheeler D., Sillanpää M. (1997) Stakeholder Corporation. Blueprint for Maximizing Stakeholder Value Pitman, London

    Google Scholar 

  • Winjberg N. M. (2000) Normative Stakeholder Theory and Aristotle: The Link Between Ethics and Politics. Journal of Business Ethics 25:329–342

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wood D. J. (1991) Corporate Social Performance Revisited. Academy of Management Review 16:691–718

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Vos J. F. J. (2003) Corporate Social Responsibility and the Identification of Stakeholders. Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management 10:141–152

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • von Wright, G. H.: 1977, The Varieties of Goodness, reprint. (Thoemmes Press, originally: Routledge and Kegan Paul, 1963)

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Production, University of Vaasa, P.O. Box 700, 65100, Vaasa, Finland

    Tarja Ketola

Authors
  1. Tarja Ketola
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Tarja Ketola.

Additional information

This paper was presented at the European Academy of Management (EURAM) Conference in Munich, 4–7 May 2005 (Ketola, 2005a). I would like to thank professor Stephan Laske for his insightful comments at the conference, which enabled me to revise the paper. Many thanks also for the anonymous reviewers of this journal for their further advice on finalizing the article.

Tarja Ketola is Associate Professor of Sustainable Development at the University of Vaasa, Finland, and Adjunct Professor of Environmental Management at the Turku School of Economics, Finland. She took her Ph.D. at Imperial College, University of London, and worked as a Lecturer in the Department of Management Studies at Brunel University before returning to Finland. Her research interests include eco-psychological leadership, strategic environmental management and corporate responsiblity. She has written books and published articles in many journals, including Business Strategy and the Environment, Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, Journal of Business Ethics, Sustainable Development and Long Range Planning.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Ketola, T. A Holistic Corporate Responsibility Model: Integrating Values, Discourses and Actions. J Bus Ethics 80, 419–435 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10551-007-9428-y

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10551-007-9428-y

Keywords

Search

Navigation