Hypernorms pull ahead: a conceptual framework of social media's impact on the integrative social contracts theory

Russell J. Zwanka

International Journal of Business and Globalisation, 2018, vol. 20, issue 1, 84-95

Abstract: This paper reviews the potential impact of social media on Donaldson and Dunfee's integrative social contracts theory (ISCT), and the necessity of a corporate social responsibility (CSR) policy and code of ethics in a global business setting. The conceptual framework is formed through an academic review of each of these four concepts: ISCT, CSR, codes of ethics, and social media communication. The idea is that hypernorms, those 'universal truths' in the ISCT, are becoming the leading variable in business ethical decision making; whilst cultural relativism is becoming less relevant, because of the rise of social media communication. The paper includes implications for the development of a global ethical decision-making process, including a theory that social media may have caused a need for a change in the ISCT decision-making process. The study proposes that communication changes have led to a transparency, which could potentially render cultural relativism less impactful.

Keywords: social media; integrative social contracts theory; ISCT; corporate social responsibility; CSR; code of ethics; hypernorms; universal truths; ethical decision making; cultural relativism; global business framework; global business; globalisation; morals and values. (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2018
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
http://www.inderscience.com/link.php?id=88666 (text/html)
Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:ids:ijbglo:v:20:y:2018:i:1:p:84-95

Access Statistics for this article

More articles in International Journal of Business and Globalisation from Inderscience Enterprises Ltd
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Sarah Parker ().