Abstract
Information theorists often construe new Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) as leveling mechanisms, regulating power relations at a distance by arming stakeholders with information and enhanced agency. Management theorists have claimed that transparency cultivates stakeholder trust, distinguishes a business from its competition, and attracts new clients, investors, and employees, making it key to future growth and prosperity. Synthesizing these claims, we encounter an increasingly common view: If corporations voluntarily adopted new ICTs in order to foster transparency, trust, and growth, while embracing the redistributions of power they bring about, both corporations and stakeholders would benefit. The common view is short-sighted, however. In order to realize mutual benefit, transparency can not be conceived merely as efficient or economical. The implementation and use of new ICTs will be morally unsatisfactory unless they stably protect stakeholders. Moreover, without such protections, transparency is unlikely to produce lasting trust and growth. More specifically, corporate disclosures ought to be guided by a theory of stakeholder rights to know about threats or risks to stakeholders’ basic interests. Such rights are necessary moral protections for stakeholders in any business environment. Respect for transparency rights is not simply value added to a corporation’s line of goods and services, but a condition of a corporation’s justifiable claim to create value rather than harm, wrong, or injustice in its dealings.
Article PDF
Similar content being viewed by others
Avoid common mistakes on your manuscript.
References
Blum, L. (1980). Friendship, altruism and morality. London: Routledge and Kegan Paul.
Brey, P. (2000). Disclosive computer ethics. ACM SIGCAS Computers and Society, 30(4), 10–16.
Brey, P. (2007). Theorizing the cultural quality of new media. Techné, 11(1), 2–18.
Cain, D., Lowenstein, G., & Moore, D. (2005). The dirt on coming clean: Perverse effects of disclosing conflicts of interest. The Journal of Legal Studies, 34(1), 1–25.
Castells, M. (1996). The information age: Economy, society, and culture, Vol 1: The rise of the networking society. Blackwell: Cambridge, MA.
Coffee, J., Jr. (2006). Gatekeepers: The professions and corporate governance. New York, NY: Oxford University Press.
DiPiazza, S., Jr., & Eccles, R. (2002). Building public trust: The future of corporate reporting. New York: Wiley.
Donnelly, J. (2002). Universal human rights in theory and practice (2nd ed.). Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press.
Donnelly, J. (2007). International human rights. Boulder, CO: Westview Press.
Elia, J. (2008). Transparency and the right to know. In A. Vaccaro, H. Horta, & P. Madsen (Eds.), Transparency, information and communication technology: Social responsibility and accountability in business and education. Charlottesville, VA: Philosophy Documentation Center.
Friedman, M. (1962). Capitalism and freedom. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press.
Friedman, M. (1970). The social responsibility of business is to increase its profits. The New York Times Magazine, September 13.
Glendon, M. A. (1991). Rights talk: The impoverishment of political discourse. New York: Free Press.
Held, V., & Oberbrunner, C. (1995). Justice and care: Essential readings in feminist ethics. Boulder, CO: Westview Press.
Huysman, M., & Wulf, V. (2004). Social capital and information technology. Cambridge, MA: Cambridge University Press.
Introna, L. (2007). Making sense of ICT, new media, and ethics. In R. Mansell, C. Avgerou, D. Quah, & R. Silverstone (Eds.), The Oxford handbook of information and communication technologies (pp. 314–333). New York and Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Johnson, V. (2004). Living within glass houses: Coping with organizational transparency. In L. Brennan & V. Johnson (Eds.), Social, ethical, and political implications of information technology (pp. 130–140). Hershey, PA: Information Science Publishing.
Johnson, D. (2006). Corporate excellence, ethics, and the role of IT. Business and Society Review, 111(4), 457–470.
Kallinikos, J. (2007). ICT, organizations, and networks. In R. Mansell, C. Avgerou, D. Quah, & R. Silverstone (Eds.), The Oxford handbook of information and communication technologies (pp. 273–292). New York and Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Kingdom, E. (1991). What’s wrong with rights? Problems for feminist politics of law. Edinburgh: University of Edinburgh Press.
Malone, T. (2004). The future of work: How the new order of business will shape your organization. Your management style and your life. Boston, MA: Harvard Business School Press.
Nissenbaum, H. (2001). Securing trust online: Wisdom or oxymoron? Boston University Law Review, 81, 635–664.
Oliver, R. (2004). What is transparency?. New York: Mc-Graw Hill.
Pagano, E., & Pagano, B. (2003). The transparency edge: How credibility can make or break you in business. New York: Mc-Graw Hill.
Rawls, J. (1971). A theory of justice. Cambridge: Belknap Press.
Roberts, A. (2001). Structural pluralism and the right to information. University of Toronto Law Journal, 51(3), 243–271.
Schauer, F. (1983). Rights and the right to know. Philosophic Exchange, 14, 65–74.
Stiglitz, J. (2003). On liberty, the right to know, and public discourse: The role of transparency in public life. In M. Gibney (Ed.), Globalizing rights: The Oxford amnesty lectures 1999 (pp. 115–156). New York: Oxford University Press.
Stiglitz, J., & Wade, R. H. (2004). The Stiglitz consensus. Foreign Policy, 141, 4–6.
Stocker, M. (1974). The schizophrenia of modern ethical theories. The Journal of Philosophy, 73(14), 453–466.
Tapscott, D., & Ticoll, D. (2003). The naked corporation: How the age of transparency will revolutionize business. New York: Free Press.
Transparency International. (2008). Using the OECD guidelines to tackle corporate corruption (Working Paper #3). Berlin, 2008. Available at < www.transparency.org > , accessed July 1 2008.
United Nations. (2007). United Nations Global Compact Brochure (Pub. 50761). Global Compact Office, United Nations, 2007. Available at < http://www.unglobalcompact.org > , accessed July 14 2008.
van den Hoven, J. (1997). Computer ethics and moral methodology. Metaphilosophy, 28(3), 234–248.
Wagner-Tsukam, S. (2007). Moral agency, profits, and the firm: Economic revisions to the Friedman theorem. Journal of Business Ethics, 70, 209–220.
Waldron, J. (1984). Theories of rights. New York: Oxford University Press.
Whitney, J. (1993). The trust factor: Liberating profits and restoring corporate vitality. New York: McGraw-Hill.
World Bank. (2008). Global economic prospects 2008: Technology diffusion in the developing world (GEP 2008). World Bank, Washington, DC, 2008. Available at < http://go.worldbank.org/TC26UFESJ0 > , accessed July 14 2008.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Elia, J. Transparency rights, technology, and trust. Ethics Inf Technol 11, 145–153 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10676-009-9192-z
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10676-009-9192-z