Abstract
The article reconstructs, in economic terms, managerial business ethics perceptions in the Japanese consumer market for fast-moving daily consumption products. An economic, three-level model of moral agency was applied that distinguishes unintentional moral agency, passive intentional moral agency and active intentional moral agency. The study took a qualitative approach and utilized as empirical research design an interview procedure. The study found that moral agency of Japanese firms mostly extended up to unintentional and intentional passive moral agency. Certain myopic managerial views were found to affect active moral agency. This leaves room for business ethics program that aim at the development of active moral agency.
Highlights
There is a lack of empirical and theoretical research on ethical stakeholder behaviour in general, and ethical consumer behaviour in particular, as far as Japanese markets are concerned
The research questions on unintentional moral agency, passive intentional agency, and active moral agency are answered by interrelating the conceptual framework of the study with empirical findings
Unintentional moral agency refers to the unintended generation of ethical outcomes through self-interested, economic exchange, such as the generation of the wealth of nations or co-prosperity in social interactions
Summary
There is a lack of empirical and theoretical research on ethical stakeholder behaviour in general, and ethical consumer behaviour in particular, as far as Japanese markets are concerned. Such a void has been pointed out, for instance, by Loewenstein (2002). He suggested that, because of the specific corporate governance system of Japan, Japanese firms should find it comparatively easy to respond and cater for ethical concerns of stakeholders, but he concluded ‘... Lewin et al concluded that the case of Japan is lacking empirical research on such external pressures on firms to behave ‘more ethically’. Their work differs from the current study which examines the effects of ethical consumption situations in the context of the Japanese market
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