Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

The Impossibility of the Separation Thesis: A Response to Joakim Sandberg

  • Chapter
  • First Online:
R. Edward Freeman’s Selected Works on Stakeholder Theory and Business Ethics

Part of the book series: Issues in Business Ethics ((EVBE,volume 53))

  • 1253 Accesses

Abstract

Distinguishing “business” concerns from “ethical” values is not only an unfruitful and meaningless task, it is also an impossible endeavor. Nevertheless, fruitless attempts to separate facts from values produce detrimental second-order effects, both for theory and practice, and should therefore be abandoned. We highlight examples of exemplary research that integrate economic and moral considerations, and point the way to a business ethics discipline that breaks new ground by putting ideas and narratives about business together with ideas and narratives about ethics.

Originally published in: Business Ethics Quarterly, 18(4), 541–548 © Cambridge University Press, 2008

Reprint by Springer, https://doi.org/10.5840/beq200818437

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Log in via an institution

Subscribe and save

Springer+ Basic
$34.99 /Month
  • Get 10 units per month
  • Download Article/Chapter or eBook
  • 1 Unit = 1 Article or 1 Chapter
  • Cancel anytime
Subscribe now

Buy Now

Chapter
USD 29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD 89.00
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Hardcover Book
USD 119.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

Notes

  1. 1.

    And if they cannot be disentangled, what are the implications for ideas such as “corporate social responsibility” and “triple bottom line”?

  2. 2.

    For several articulations of these arguments, see Freeman 1994 and 2000; Freeman et al. 2004; and Wicks 1996 as examples.

  3. 3.

    Sen (1987: 10) suggests that not only should economics play a direct role in understanding better the nature of some of our ethical questions, but that some of the methodological insights used in economics in “tackling problems of interdependence” can be substantially useful in dealing with complex ethical problems.

References

  • Ashforth, B.E., and G.E. Kreiner. 1999. ‘How Can You Do It?’: Dirty Work and the Challenge of Constructing a Positive Identity. Academy of Management Review 24 (3): 413–434.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ashforth, B.E., G.E. Kreiner, M.A. Clark, and M. Fugate. 2007. Normalizing Dirty Work: Managerial Tactics for Countering Occupational Taint. Academy of Management Journal 50 (1): 149–174.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bartunek, J.M. 2002. The Proper Place of Organizational Scholarship: A Comment on Hinings and Greenwood. Administrative Science Quarterly 47 (3): 422–427.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Cameron, K.S., R.E. Quinn, J. DeGraff, and A.V. Thakor. 2006. Competing Values Leadership: Creating Value in Organizations. Cheltenham: Edward Elgar.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Crary, A. 2007. Beyond Moral Judgment. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Donaldson, T., and L. Preston. 1995. The Stakeholder Theory of the Corporation: Concepts, Evidence and Implications. Academy of Management Review 20 (1): 65–91.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ferraro, E., J. Pfeffer, and R.I. Sutton. 2005. Economics Language and Assumptions: How Theories Can Become Self-Eulfilling. Academy of Management Review 30 (1): 8–24.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Feyerabend, P. 1975. Against Method. London: Verso.

    Google Scholar 

  • Frank, R.H. 1988. Passions within Reason. New York: W. W. Norton & Company.

    Google Scholar 

  • Frank, R.H., T. Gilovich, and D. Regan. 1993. Does Studying Economics Inhibit Cooperation? Journal of Economic Perspectives 7 (Spring): 159–171.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Freeman, R.E. 1994. The Politics of Stakeholder Theory: Some Future Directions. Business Ethics Quarterly 4 (4): 409–421.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • ———. 2000. Business Ethics at the Milennium. Business Ethics Quarterly 10 (1): 169–180.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Freeman, R.E., A.C. Wicks, and B. Parmar. 2004. Stakeholder Theory and ‘The Corporate Objective Revisited. Organization Science 15 (3): 364–369.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Friedman, M. 1970. The Social Responsibility of Business Is to Increase Its Profits. The New York Times Magazine 33: 122–126.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ghoshal, S. 2005. Bad Management Theories Are Destroying Good Management Practices. Academy of Management Learning & Education 4 (1): 75–91.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hargrave, T.J. 2008. Moral Imagination, Collective Action, and the Achievement of Moral Outcomes. Business Ethics Quarterly 19: 87.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hargrave, T.J., and H. Van de Ven. 2006. A Collective Action Model of Institutional Innovation. Academy of Management Review 31 (4): 864–888.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Harris, J., and P. Bromiley. 2007. Incentives to Cheat: The Influence of Executive Compensation and Firm Performance on Financial Misrepresentation. Organization Science 18 (3): 350–367.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hartman, E.M. 2008. Reconciliation in Business Ethics: Some Advice from Aristotle. Business Ethics Quarterly 18 (2): 253–265.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hinings, C.R., and R. Greenwood. 2002. Disconnects and Consequences in Organization Theory. Administrative Science Quarterly 47 (3): 411–421.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Jensen, M.C. 2002. Value Maximization, Stakeholder Theory, and the Corporate Objective Function. Business Ethics Quarterly 12 (2): 235–256.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • King, A.A. 2007. Cooperation between Corporations and Environmental Groups: A Transaction Cost Perspective. Academy of Management Review 32 (3): 889–900.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • King, A.A., and M.J. Lenox. 2000. Industry Self-Regulation without Sanctions: The Chemical Industry’s Responsible Care Program. Academy of Management Journal 43 (4): 698–716.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • ———. 2001a. Does It Really Pay to Be Green? An Empirical Study of Firm Environmental and Financial Performance. Journal of Industrial Ecology 5 (1): 105–116.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • ———. 2001b. Lean and Green? Exploring the Spillovers from Lean Production to Environmental Performance. Production and Operations Management 10 (3): 244–256.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • ———. 2002. Exploring the Locus of Profitable Pollution Reduction. Management Science 48 (2): 289–299.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kreiner, G.E., B.E. Ashforth, and D.M. Sluss. 2006. Identity Dynamics in Occupational Dirty Work: Integrating Social Identity and System Justification Perspectives. Organization Science 17 (5): 619–636.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kuhn, T.S. 1962. The Structure of Scientific Revolutions. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Margolis, J.D., and J.P. Walsh. 2003. Misery Loves Companies: Rethinking Social Initiatives by Business. Administrative Science Quarterly 48: 268–305.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Martin, R.L. 2007. The Opposable Mind: How Successful Leaders Win through Integrative Thinking. Cambridge, MA: Harvard Business School Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • McCloskey, D.N. 1998. The Rhetoric of Economics. Madison: University of Wisconsin Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Nielsen, R.P. 1996. The Politics of Ethics: Methods for Acting, Learning, and Sometimes Fighting, with Others in Addressing Ethics Problems in Organizational Life. New York: Oxford University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Putnam, H. 2002. The Collapse of the Fact/Value Dichotomy. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Quine, W.V.O. 1951. Two Dogmas of Empiricism. The Philosophical Review 60 (1): 20–43.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Quinn, R.E., and J. Rohrbaugh. 1983. A Spatial Model of Effectiveness Criteria: Towards a Competing Values Approach to Organizational Analysis. Management Science 29 (3): 363–377.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Reynolds, S. 2006a. Moral Awareness and Ethical Predispositions: Investigating the Role of Individual Differences in the Recognition of Moral Issues. Journal of Applied Psychology 91 (1): 233–243.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • ———. 2006b. A Neurocognitive Model of the Ethical Decision-Making Process: Implications for Study and Practice. Journal of Applied Psychology 91 (4): 737–748.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Rodriguez, P., K. Uhlenbruck, and L. Eden. 2005. Government Corruption and the Entry Strategies of Multinationals. Academy of Management Review 30 (2): 383–396.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Rodriguez, P., D.S. Siegel, A. Hillman, and L. Eden. 2006. Three Lenses on the Multinational Enterprise: Politics, Corruption, and Corporate Social Responsibility. Journal of International Business Studies 37 (6): 733–736.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sandberg, J. 2008. Understanding the Separation Thesis. Business Ethics Quarterly 18 (2): 213–232.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Searle, J.R. 1964. How to Derive ‘Ought’ From ‘Is’. The Philosophical Review 73 (1): 43–58.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sen, A. 1987. On Ethics and Economics. Maiden, MA: Blackwell Publishing.

    Google Scholar 

  • Seo, M., and W.E.D. Creed. 2002. Institutional Contradictions, Praxis, and Institutional Change: A Dialectical Perspective. Academy of Management Review 27 (2): 222–227.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Treviño, L.K., and G.R. Weaver. 2001. Organizational Justice and Ethics Program ‘Follow-Through’: Influences on Employees’ Harmful and Helpful Behavior. Business Ethics Quarterly 11 (4): 651–671.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Uhlenbruck, K., P. Rodriguez, J. Doh, and L. Eden. 2006. The Impact of Corruption on Entry Strategy: Evidence from Telecommunication Projects in Emerging Economies. Organization Science 17 (3): 402–414.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wade, J.B., C.A. O’Reilly, and T.G. Pollock. 2006a. Overpaid CEOs and Underpaid Managers: Fairness and Executive Compensation. Organization Science 17 (5): 527–524.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wade, J.B., J.E. Porac, T.G. Pollock, and S.D. Graffin. 2006b. The Burden of Celebrity: The Impact of CEO Certification Contests on CEO Pay and Performance. Academy of Management Journal 49 (4): 643–660.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Walsh, J.P., K. Weber, and J.D. Margolis. 2003. Social Issues in Management: Our Lost Cause Found. Journal of Management 29 (6): 859–881.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Walsh, J.P., A.D. Meyer, and C.B. Schoonhoven. 2006. A Future for Organization Theory: Living In and Living With Changing Organizations. Organization Science 17 (5): 657–671.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Weaver, G.R., and L.K. Treviño. 1999. Compliance and Values Oriented Ethics Programs: Influences on Employees’ Attitudes and Behavior. Business Ethics Quarterly 9 (2): 315–335.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Weaver, G.R., L.K. Treviño, and P.L. Cochran. 1999a. Corporate Ethics Programs as Control Systems: Influences of Executive Commitment and Environmental Factors. Academy of Management Journal 42 (1): 41–58.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • ———. 1999b. Integrated and Decoupled Corporate Social Performance: Management Commitments, External Pressures, and Corporate Ethics Practices. Academy of Management Journal 42 (5): 539–552.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wicks, A.C. 1996. Overcoming the Separation Thesis: The Need for a Reconsideration of Business and Society Research. Business & Society 35 (1): 89–118.

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. University of Virginia, Charlottesville, VA, USA

    Jared D. Harris & R. Edward Freeman

Authors
  1. Jared D. Harris
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. R. Edward Freeman
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to R. Edward Freeman .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. College of Business, James Madison University, Harrisonburg, VA, USA

    Sergiy D. Dmytriyev

  2. Darden School of Business, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, VA, USA

    R. Edward Freeman

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2023 Springer Nature Switzerland AG

About this chapter

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this chapter

Harris, J.D., Freeman, R.E. (2023). The Impossibility of the Separation Thesis: A Response to Joakim Sandberg. In: Dmytriyev, S.D., Freeman, R.E. (eds) R. Edward Freeman’s Selected Works on Stakeholder Theory and Business Ethics. Issues in Business Ethics(), vol 53. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-04564-6_33

Download citation

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Search

Navigation