Behavioral Business Ethics as a Method for Normative Business Ethics
EconomEtica, Number 42, July 2012
28 Pages Posted: 25 Jul 2012
Date Written: July 2, 2012
Abstract
This paper aims at discussing the role of behavioral business ethics as a methodological approach that is valuable for the construction of a robust normative foundation for business ethics. In particular, we will focus on experiments – and, to a lesser extent, surveys, field research, and even the study of cognitive and neural mechanisms – as a research method suitable to improve our appraisal and knowledge of the prescriptive side of business ethics. We contend that there are two basic gains from the use of experimental methods in normative business ethics. First, we can improve the psychological realism of normative theory -this goes hand in hand with supporting the new paradigm of the organization, based on a more realistic view of human agency. Second, we can experimentally check some theoretical assumptions about moral reasoning, thus providing quasi-empirical support (or falsification) for particular normative theories.
Keywords: experiments, social contract, realism, reflective equilibrium
JEL Classification: C92, D64, M14
Suggested Citation: Suggested Citation