E-Book Content
Ó Springer 2006 Journal of Business Ethics (2006) 68:303–328 DOI 10.1007/s10551-006-9016-6 A Critical Perspective of Integrative Social Contracts Theory: Recurring Criticisms and Next Generation Research Topics ABSTRACT. During the past ten years Integrative Social Contracts Theory (ISCT) has become part of the repertoire of specialized decision-oriented theories in the business ethics literature. The intention here is to (1) provide a brief overview of the structure and strengths of ISCT; (2) identify recurring themes in the extensive commentary on the theory including brief mention of how ISCT has been applied outside the business ethics literature; (3) describe where research appears to be headed; and (4) specify challenges faced by those who seek to reform ISCT. Key themes in the critiquing literature relate to (a) the identification process for hypernorms; (b) justification of the recognition of hypernorms; (c) proposals for considering meso or meta norms; (d) clarification of the relationship between stakeholder concepts and ISCT; (e) problems with potentially unoccupied moral free space; (f) sources of ethical obligation within the ISCT framework; and (g) the potential role for concepts of stakeholder dialogue and engagement. KEY WORDS: social contract, integrative social contracts theory, moral free space, hypernorms, stakeholder theory Contractualist approaches to business ethics have become increasingly important over the past quarter century. The contractualist visions developed during this period constitute a wide-ranging set of sophisThomas Dunfee is the Kolodny Professor of Social Responsibility at The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania. He is a former president of the Academy of Legal Studies in Business and the Society for Business Ethics. He is a former director of the Wharton Ethics Program and the Carol and Lawrence Zicklin Cente