Freedom trumps profit: a liberal approach to business ethics

Andreas Ostermaier () and Dominik Aaken ()
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Andreas Ostermaier: University of Southern Denmark
Dominik Aaken: University of Salzburg

Journal of Business Economics, 2020, vol. 90, issue 5, No 11, 947-962

Abstract: Abstract Liberalism is denounced by its critics as an ideology that advocates profit seeking and breeds economic crises. Even much of the CSR literature is pitched against liberalism. Liberalism, however, is about freedom much more than profits. It both legitimizes and confines contracting in markets. Specifically, contracts are legitimate if they are based on voluntary consent and thus reflect contractors’ freedom. We propose a broad understanding of freedom and derive criteria as guidance for contractors to establish voluntary consent. For illustration, we discuss the example of sweatshops. We suggest that liberalism is a potentially valuable resource in developing CSR theory.

Keywords: Business ethicss; Contracts; Freedom; Liberalism (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: A13 B41 K12 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

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DOI: 10.1007/s11573-020-00994-y

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