Advancing Integrative Social Contracts Theory: A Habermasian Perspective

We critically assess integrative social contracts theory (ISCT) and show that the concept particularly lacks of moral justification of substantive hypernorms. By drawing on Habermasian philosophy, in particular discourse ethics and its recent application in the theory of deliberative democracy, we f...

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Bibliographic Details
Authors: Gilbert, Dirk Ulrich (Author) ; Behnam, Michael (Author)
Format: Electronic Article
Language:English
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Published: Springer 2009
In: Journal of business ethics
Year: 2009, Volume: 89, Issue: 2, Pages: 215-234
Further subjects:B Integrative Social Contracts Theory
B Discourse ethics
B social contracting
B Deliberative Democracy
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Summary:We critically assess integrative social contracts theory (ISCT) and show that the concept particularly lacks of moral justification of substantive hypernorms. By drawing on Habermasian philosophy, in particular discourse ethics and its recent application in the theory of deliberative democracy, we further advance ISCT and show that social contracting in business ethics requires a well-justified procedural rather than a substantive focus for managing stakeholder relations. We also replace the monological concept of hypothetical thought experiments in ISCT by a concept of practical discourse to better govern business activities on the macro-level of organizational actors such as firms, governments, and NGOs.
ISSN:1573-0697
Contains:Enthalten in: Journal of business ethics
Persistent identifiers:DOI: 10.1007/s10551-008-9995-6