Organizing ethics and entrepreneurship

Article type: Research Article

Authors: Singer, Alan E.

Affiliations: Holshouser Distinguished Professor of Ethics, Walker College of Business, Appalachian State University, Boone, North Carolina, U.S.A. E-mail: singerae@appstate.edu

Abstract: This paper sets out an organizing framework for the extensive contemporary literature on the ethics of entrepreneurship. It consists of (i) a set of bi-polar components (or false-choices) such as economic efficiency vs. social justice, (ii) a set of spanning-themes such as character, imagination and intention, and (iii) a set of topical themes such as poverty, property-rights and corruption that are variously associated with the ethics of entrepreneurship and with global capitalism in general. The framework particularly facilitates the placement of existing contributions relative to each other, thus consolidating progress in the area and potentially guiding future works.

Keywords: Ethics, organizing-framework, typology

DOI: 10.3233/HSM-2010-0714

Journal: Human Systems Management, vol. 29, no. 2, pp. 69-78, 2010