Empathy as an Antecedent of Social Justice Attitudes and Perceptions

At the same time that social justice concerns are on the rise on college campuses, empathy levels among US college students are falling (Konrath et al. 2016). Social injustice resulting from organizational decisions and actions causes profound and unnecessary human suffering, and research to underst...

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Bibliographic Details
Authors: Cartabuke, Matthew (Author) ; Westerman, James W. (Author) ; Bergman, Jacqueline Z. (Author) ; Whitaker, Brian G. (Author) ; Westerman, Jennifer (Author) ; Beekun, Rafik I. (Author)
Format: Electronic Article
Language:English
Check availability: HBZ Gateway
Interlibrary Loan:Interlibrary Loan for the Fachinformationsdienste (Specialized Information Services in Germany)
Published: 2019
In: Journal of business ethics
Year: 2019, Volume: 157, Issue: 3, Pages: 605-615
Further subjects:B Higher Education
B Social Justice
B Ethical Behavior
B Empathy
B Business
Online Access: Volltext (lizenzpflichtig)
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Summary:At the same time that social justice concerns are on the rise on college campuses, empathy levels among US college students are falling (Konrath et al. 2016). Social injustice resulting from organizational decisions and actions causes profound and unnecessary human suffering, and research to understand antecedents to these decisions and actions lacks attention. Empathy represents a potential tool and critical skill for organizational decision-makers, with empirical evidence linking empathy to moral recognition of ethical situations and greater breadth of understanding of stakeholder impact and improved financial success. This study explores the potential relationship between empathy and social justice, using a multifaceted operationalization of social justice, which includes management actions (corporate social responsibility and socially responsible attitudes) and social sympathies (distributive justice in US society and agreement with the goals of Occupy Wall Street). Results broadly support the positive empathy and social justice relationship and suggest higher education interventions to develop empathy in college business students.
ISSN:1573-0697
Contains:Enthalten in: Journal of business ethics
Persistent identifiers:DOI: 10.1007/s10551-017-3677-1