The Morality of “new” CEO Activism
Layla Branicki (),
Stephen Brammer (),
Alison Pullen () and
Carl Rhodes ()
Additional contact information
Layla Branicki: Macquarie University
Stephen Brammer: Macquarie University
Alison Pullen: Macquarie University
Carl Rhodes: University of Technology, Sydney
Journal of Business Ethics, 2021, vol. 170, issue 2, No 5, 269-285
Abstract:
Abstract CEOs’ social and environmental activism attracts significant public and research interest. Positioned as an expression of personal morality, such activism is potentially highly influential because of CEOs’ public visibility and associated positional and resource-based power. This paper questions the assumption that CEO activism can only be explained in relation to individual moral action, and illuminates its wider social implications. We critically evaluate the recent upsurge in CEO activism by juxtaposing it against broader social activism, identifying its distinctive characteristics, and empirically examining two recent ‘moral episodes’: the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program and the Fetal Heartbeat Acts (FHAs). Our analysis demonstrates that CEO activism is more heterogeneous than research to date has shown. Building on this analysis, a refined understanding of the character and morality of CEO activism is developed by establishing a typology of its forms. We conclude that while CEO activism is an important and potent new phenomenon, it may not be universally appropriate to regard CEOs as moral leaders. Instead, it is paramount to question the motives and effects of what CEOs do in the name of morality.
Keywords: CEO activism; Deferred action for childhood arrivals; Fetal heartbeat acts; Morality (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:
Downloads: (external link)
http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s10551-020-04656-5 Abstract (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:kap:jbuset:v:170:y:2021:i:2:d:10.1007_s10551-020-04656-5
Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
http://www.springer. ... cs/journal/10551/PS2
DOI: 10.1007/s10551-020-04656-5
Access Statistics for this article
Journal of Business Ethics is currently edited by Michelle Greenwood and R. Edward Freeman
More articles in Journal of Business Ethics from Springer
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Sonal Shukla () and Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing ().