Corporate character: modern virtue ethics and the virtuous corporation

Moore, G.

Abstract

This paper is a further development of two previous pieces of work (Moore 2002, 2005) in which modern virtue ethics, and in particular MacIntyre's (1983) related notions of "practice" and "institution," have been explored in the context of business. It first introduces and defines the concept of corporate character and seeks to establish why it is important. It then reviews MacIntyre's virtues-practice-institution schema and the implications of this at the level of the institution in question--the corporation--and argues that the concept of corporate character follows from, but is a novel development of, MacIntyre's schema. The paper contrasts corporate character and virtues with the more familiar concepts of corporate culture and values. The constitutive and substantive elements of corporate character, including the essential corporate virtues, are then drawn out and illustrated with reference to the cases explored in Koehn (1998). Finally, the paper acknowledges and counters a specific criticism of this approach.

Citation

Moore, G. (2005). Corporate character: modern virtue ethics and the virtuous corporation. Business Ethics Quarterly, 15(4), 659-685. https://doi.org/10.5840/beq200515446

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Publication Date: Oct 1, 2005
• Deposit Date: Aug 27, 2008
• Publicly Available Date: May 11, 2010
• Journal: Business Ethics Quarterly
• Print ISSN: 1052-150X
• Electronic ISSN: 2153-3326
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 15
• Issue: 4
• Pages: 659-685
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.5840/beq200515446
• Public URL: https://durham-repository.worktribe.com/output/1554209
• Publisher URL: http://secure.pdcnet.org/pdc/bvdb.nsf/toc?openform&journal=pdc_beq&yearrange=2000%20-%202010&category=0015_0004_2005#0015_0004_2005