Research Centers for Business Ethics
Mark Rowe
Are dedicated to the study of what is good or right for individuals and groups of individuals engaged in business activity. More particularly, these organizations investigate and analyze the application of moral concepts and principles to business decision making and action, usually with the aims of developing greater awareness and understanding of ethical issues in the business environment, and promoting best practices to address them. Business ethics centers are most effective when they bridge theoretical inquiry and practical application, and guide organizations in the development of ethical business cultures.
Business ethics centers are generally not for profit organizations, and although most have been established within business schools and universities, some exist independently. Funding and support for institution based centers are usually provided by the host institution or by corporate and individual donors, government grants, revenue generating activities (such as executive education programs, conferences, and publishing), and sometimes by all of these sources in combination. Independent centers may derive funding from donors, grants, and programs and also from consulting revenues.
Significant active research in business ethics began in the mid 1970s, as the field became more widely recognized as a legitimate subject for study and teaching. Demand for such rese arch was driven by the heightened social and ethical consciousness that emerged in the wake of a decade of civil unrest, environmental concern, and consumer enfranchisement – and especially after a series of high profile scandals such as Watergate and the aerospace industry bribes. Among the oldest business ethics centers are the Center for Business Ethics, founded in 1976 at Bentley College in Waltham, Massachusetts, and the Olsson Center for Applied Ethics, which became active at the Darden Graduate School of Business, University of Virginia, at around the same time.
There are now close to 200 centers worldwide, over 120 of which are in the United States alone. Regions newly significant for interest in business ethics which have seen the creation of centers include Latin America, South Korea, Japan, and South Africa. Typically, centers are small, with a full time director, one or more research and consulting staff members or associates, and several full and part time support staff. In the university setting it is common for faculty members to be affiliated with such centers. They are often charged with teaching business ethics within a broader discipline based curriculum and, especially now in business schools, integrating the subject into students’ general education.
The particular focus of individual centers varies widely but, in general terms, all of them work to stimulate, support, conduct, and disseminate research related to business ethics and corporate social responsibility. Very few centers now concern themselves solely with conducting or collecting research. Even when the majority of a center’s time and resources are used in this way, it is likely that there will be subsidiary activities such as organizing occasional conferences or publishing reports. Most centers have multiple functions, often a combination of rese arch with teaching and the preparation of teaching materials, organizing conferences and seminars, and the provision of speakers and scholars for media interviews. A growing number of centers offer advisory and networking services to corporations and other organizations. Some centers are repositories for books, journals, videos, and corporate ethics materials. Among centers that publish business ethics newsletters or magazines, the trend is toward online publications to enable more timely and cost effective dissemination of ideas and information. The Ethics Resource Center in Washington, DC and the Institute of Global Ethics in Camden, Maine are notable trendsetters in this regard.
Centers differ in the degree of specialization within the field of business ethics, ranging from an interest in business generally to a specialist focus on particular industries or professions. Prominent centers in the former category include the Zicklin Center for Business Ethics Research at Wharton, University of Pennsylvania, the Center for Business Ethics at Bentley College (above), and the Institute of Business Ethics in London, UK. At the other end of the spectrum is the Isbell Center for Hospitality Ethics at Northern Arizona University and the Silha Center for the Study of Media Ethics and Law at the University of Minnesota.
Research methodologies employed at centers also differ widely, depending on the nature of the subject matter, the research objectives, and the resources available. Some centers conduct empirical research to investigate, evaluate, and explain companies’ practices, using qualitative methods such as case studies and interviews, as well as quantitative analysis of large sample survey data that might have been gathered with the assistance of a specialist survey firm. Rese arch is also carried out using secondary sources such as corporate public publications, public filings, media coverage, and directories. The work of some centers requires a greater degree of theoretical abstraction, grounded in the discipline of philosophy.