Integrative Social Contracts Theory Research Articles

An Examination of Integrative Social Contracts Theory: Social Hypernorms and Authentic Community Norms in Corporate Drug Testing Programs

This manuscript discusses the utility of Integrative Social Contracts Theory in describing the social conduct of corporations in the area of drug testing. As a hybrid of classical contractarian theory and descriptive organizational theory, Integrative Social Contracts Theory (ISCT) occupies conceptual space at the intersection of normative and empirical approaches to analysis of business phenomena. Therefore, ISCT does not lend itself well to empirical testing in the positivist tradition. However, the expectations derived from ISCT can be examined through empirical testing and observation to determine if ISCT is useful in describing corporate conduct. This study asks not if ISCT is scientifically correct, but rather is it analytically insightful. The results suggest that ISCT provides a valuable framework for identifying areas of disagreement and convergence on important social and moral issues in business and society. However, the principle of implied consent through failure to exit may not be as strong as originally thought.

Integrative Social Contracts Theory: Hype over Hypernorms

Applying social contract theory to business ethics is a relatively new idea, and perhaps nobody has pursued this direction better than Thomas Donaldson and Thomas W. Dunfee. Their "Integrative Social Contracts Theory" manages to combine culturally sensitive decision making capacities with trans-cultural norms by setting up a layered system of social contracts. Lurking behind their work is a concern with the problems of relativism. They hope to alleviate these problems by introducing three concepts important to the ISCT: "authentic norms," which clarify culturally specific norms, "priority rules," which determine the rules of engagement when authentic norms clash, and "hypernorms," which measure the value of authentic norms against a thin set of universally upheld values. This paper traces the genealogy of these hypernorms and challenges their value for the ISCT. It argues that well-conceived priority rules can do everything hypernorms can, and can do so more simply.

When Ethics Travel: The Promise and Peril of Global Business Ethics

The central challenge in managing business ethics in a global economy is to navigate cross-national cultural differences. This article proposes an approach called Integrative Social Contract Theory (ISCT) in order to assist managers in avoiding the perils of both ethical relativism and global ethical uniformity. ISCT allows for tolerance without amoralism. It can be applied to help managers distinguish between those business practices that reflect legitimate differences in local customs—which must be respected —and those which violate hypemorms held by all cultures and organizations. Bribery generally falls into the latter category.

Social Contracts and Marketing Ethics

In this article, the authors describe the need and the search to date for a normative moral foundation for marketing. Social contract theory appears promising because of its clear correspondence to the exchange relationships central to marketing thought and practice. The authors introduce it in a specific formulation known as Integrative Social Contracts Theory (ISCT). This theory provides a coherent framework for resolving ethical issues that arise among different communities and is therefore particularly appropriate because marketers frequently engage in boundary-spanning relationships and cross-cultural activities. The authors explore the application of ISCT to ethical decision making in marketing through the use of bribery as a major illustrative example. They discuss implications for managers and researchers.

A Critique of the Empirical Methods of Integrative Social Contracts Theory

Integrative social contracts theory (ISCT) uses empirical methods to develop guidelines for international business ethics. This article criticizes ISCT in terms of the way people actually think about contracts and agreements around the globe. Differences in orientations to communications context, moral reasoning, and institutional and structural conditions make the identification of authentic norms, hypernorms, and relevant communities problematic. The difficulties of the empirical methods suggest recourse to more traditional theoretical approaches for the identification of hypernorms as well as a stronger test for the compatibility of authentic norms with hypernorms.

The impact of adopting an ethical approach to employee dismissal during corporate restructuring

The treatment of employees during downsizing and corporate restructuring raises many ethical issues. To provide a common framework for understanding ethical decisions facing organizations delivering the news of dismissal to affected employees, Integrative Social Contracts Theory and the research on social exchange was used to integrate existing research on employee dismissal. Of particular importance was determining the criteria necessary to manage the dismissal process within ethical boundaries. Three basic criteria, which together represent a variety of contractual and transactional obligations, are proposed as necessary for an ethical approach to dismissal; 1) advance warning of the job loss, 2) open communication, and 3) institutionalized support services. The frequency with which organizations meet these criteria is examined using a geographically dispersed, cross-organizational sample of 770 involuntarily displaced professional employees. In addition, the effect of such an ethical approach to dismissal on individual psychological and financial outcomes is examined. Findings are discussed as they relate to the implicit contract between employee and employer and organizations' responsibility to employees during corporate restructuring.

An Empirical Test of Integrative Social Contracts Theory

An Empirical Test of Integrative Social Contracts Theory

Political Liberalism and Integrative Social Contracts Theory

Political Liberalism and Integrative Social Contracts Theory

A New Direction of Integrative Social Contracts Theory : Toward Solving Ethical Issues in Japanese Management

A New Direction of Integrative Social Contracts Theory : Toward Solving Ethical Issues in Japanese Management

Decision-Making Processes on Ethical Issues: The Impact of a Social Contract Perspective

Abstract:This paper develops a framework for examining decision making about ethical issues and tests the applicability of a social contract perspective. Using two separate samples of students and salespeople, we determine that community members (salespeople) tend to judge a potentially unethical act to constitute a violation of an implicit social contract and non-community members (students) do not. Also, consistent with the emphasis on context specificity of integrative social contracts theory, situational variables influence perceptions of ethicality for the community members, but do not affect the perceptions of individuals outside the community. The study finds considerable support for the use of a social contractarian perspective in the study of decision-making processes about ethical issues.

Social Contract Theory and Gender Discrimination: Some Reflections on the Donaldson/Dunfee Model

Abstract:This paper relates Donaldson and Dunfee’s Integrative Social Contracts Theory to the problem of gender discrimination. We make the assumption that multinational managers might seek some guidance from ISCT to resolve ethical issues of gender discrimination in countries indifferent or hostile to gender equality. The role of Donaldson and Dunfee’s “hypernorms” seems especially crucial, and we find that, under their writings thus far, no “hypernorms” exist to make unethical the most blatant acts of sex discrimination in a host country whose local norms tolerate such discrimination. The genesis of “hypernorms” as “global moral minimums” is recounted, and specific application of ISCT to a familiar ethics case (“A Foreign Assignment”) is provided.

Social Contract Theory and Gender Discrimination

This paper relates Donaldson and Dunfee’s Integrative Social Contracts Theory to the problem of gender discrimination. We make the assumption that multinational managers might seek some guidance from ISCT to resolve ethical issues of gender discrimination in countries indifferent or hostile to gender equality. The role of Donaldson and Dunfee’s “hypernorms” seems especially crucial, and we find that, under their writings thus far, no “hypernorms” exist to make unethical the most blatant acts of sex discrimination in a host country whose local norms tolerate such discrimination. The genesis of “hypernorms” as “global moral minimums” is recounted, and specific application of ISCT to a familiar ethics case (“A Foreign Assignment”) is provided.

Decision-Making Processes on Ethical Issues

This paper develops a framework for examining decision making about ethical issues and tests the applicability of a social contract perspective. Using two separate samples of students and salespeople, we determine that community members (salespeople) tend to judge a potentially unethical act to constitute a violation of an implicit social contract and non-community members (students) do not. Also, consistent with the emphasis on context specificity of integrative social contracts theory, situational variables influence perceptions of ethicality for the community members, but do not affect the perceptions of individuals outside the community. The study finds considerable support for the use of a social contractarian perspective in the study of decision-making processes about ethical issues.

Toward a Unified Conception of Business Ethics: Integrative Social Contracts Theory

Toward a Unified Conception of Business Ethics: Integrative Social Contracts Theory

Hypernorms and Integrative Social Contracts Theory

Hypernorms and Integrative Social Contracts Theory

Vertical Restraints as Contract Enforcement Mechanisms

IT is now generally recognized that there are many cases of vertical restraints that do not fit the standard "consumer free riding on special services" theory.1 For example, the widespread use of resale price maintenance in the marketing of brand name clothing cannot be explained as inducing retailers to supply services such as dressing rooms. It is unlikely that consumers must be prevented from trying on clothing free of charge at a full-service retailer before purchasing the clothing at a discount from retailers who do not supply dressing rooms. A number of authors recently have attempted to correct this deficiency in the standard theory by expanding the type of services that vertical restraints may induce retailers to supply and the corresponding retailer free-riding problems.2 The standard economic analysis of how vertical restraints operate to induce desired retailer behavior has remained essentially unchanged, however. The standard analysis assumes that when it is not feasible for a manufacturer to write explicit, court-enforceable contracts with retailers for the supply of particular services, the only alternative mechanism manufacturers can use to induce the supply of desired services is to increase the direct return retailers receive from consumers when those

Integrity

Integrity

Classification by Race in Compensatory Programs

Previous articleNext article No AccessDiscussionClassification by Race in Compensatory ProgramsJames W. NickelJames W. Nickel Search for more articles by this author PDFPDF PLUS Add to favoritesDownload CitationTrack CitationsPermissionsReprints Share onFacebookTwitterLinkedInRedditEmail SectionsMoreDetailsFiguresReferencesCited by Ethics Volume 84, Number 2Jan., 1974 Article DOIhttps://doi.org/10.1086/291912 Views: 1Total views on this site Citations: 5Citations are reported from Crossref Copyright 1974 University of ChicagoPDF download Crossref reports the following articles citing this article:Julian Jonker AFFIRMATIVE ACTION FOR NON-RACIALISTS, Public Affairs Quarterly 33, no.33 (Jul 2019): 195–214.https://doi.org/10.2307/26910029H.P.P. (Hennie) Lötter Compensating for impoverishing injustices of the distant past, Politikon 32, no.11 (Aug 2006): 83–102.https://doi.org/10.1080/02589340500101766Thomas Donaldson, Thomas W. Dunfee Toward A Unified Conception Of Business Ethics: Integrative Social Contracts Theory, Academy of Management Review 19, no.22 (Apr 1994): 252–284.https://doi.org/10.5465/amr.1994.9410210749M. S. Singer, A. E. Singer Justice in preferential hiring, Journal of Business Ethics 10, no.1010 (Oct 1991): 797–803.https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00705714 Joel Kassiola Compensatory Justice & the Moral Obligation for Preferential Treatment of Discriminated Groups, Polity 11, no.11 (Nov 2016): 46–66.https://doi.org/10.2307/3234248