CSR & BUSINESS

ETHICS

INTRODUCTION

The article determines the relation between policies concerning CSR &
philosophical moral theories. This study is part of an empirical
investigation whoms objective is to determine which moral theory
(egoism, libertarianism, utilitarian, common-sense morality) act as a
basis for CSR policies.

The entire article is divided into 5 main components :

1)Description of moral framework and hypotheses

2)Description of method

3)Findings

4)Conclusion

MORAL FRAMEWORK &

HYPOTHESES

4 types of Moral Theories :

1)EGOISM It states that morally correct action is one that maximises the good for the moral agent. Thus, CSR is
not concerned with a moral obligation to benefit others, but to benefit the company which means that the co. must
worry about its employees, needy strangers, local community etc. only if it is in the co.s self interest.

2)LIBERTARIANISM This theory believes in the existence of negative rights such as freedom of speech, freedom of
religion, freedom of coercion etc. , but not in positive duties like donating to charity.

3)UTILITARIANISM This theory believes that moral agents always have to promote the best possible outcome i.e.
maximum happiness from an impartial perspective.

4)COMMON-SENSE MORALITY This theory believes in the existence of both negative rights & positive duties.
Supporters of this theory believes that co. have a moral obligation not to violate anyones right and that they also
have positive duties towards certain groups.

Hypothesis on the basis of above framework :

H1: CSR policies of a co. engaged in CSR concerning positive duties are not based on ethical egoism.

H2: CSR policies of a co. engaged in CSR concerning positive duties are not based on are not based on libertarian.

H3: CSR policies of a co. engaged in CSR concerning positive duties are not based on utilitarian.

H4: CSR policies of a co. engaged in CSR concerning positive duties are based on some kind of common-sense
morality.

METODOLOGY

The companies chosen in this study are all engaged in CSR activities for
long time & are national CSR frontrunners. Apart, from this they all are
very different from each other.

21 semi-structured & partly semi-structured qualitative interviews with

key CSR personnel, 7 from each co. were conducted. Later on, they were
asked with their views on the cases :- Moral Case 1A, Moral Case 1B &
Moral Case 2 & the other 2 questions.

Purpose of these 2 questions & the moral cases that were asked, was,
to be able to confirm or reject the hypotheses (H1, H2, H3, H4) & to find
out whether the CSR policies of companies engaged in CSR are based on
ethical egoism, libertarianism, utilitarianism or common-sense morality.

FINDINGS

1)SLIPPERY SLOPE ARGUMENT Some respondents used a logical version, whereas some used an empirical
version of slippery slope argument.

2)SHAREHOLDER ARGUMENT It depends on the interest of the shareholders because their interests can
either be purely financial or non-financial.

3)UNIQUE COMPETENCIES ARGUMENT Respondents from all the three companies seemed to make this
point, but to use their competency locally & not globally.

4)PROXIMITY ARGUMENT All the respondents seemed to argue that physical distance matters morally.

5)Moral Case 1A/1B None of the CSR policies of all the three companies were based on utilitarian moral
theory.

6)Moral Case 2 - None of the CSR policies of all the three companies were based on utilitarian moral theory.

7) Questions - None of the CSR policies of all the three companies were based on utilitarian moral theory.

8)Respondents of all the 3 companies support all the 3 principles given below :

a)Fiduciary duties towards shareholders

b)Physical proximity principle

c)Social proximity principle

CONCLUSION

The CSR policies of companies engaged in CSR are based on commonsense morality rather than on teleological moral theories like egoism,
libertarianism & utilitarian.

Therefore, on the basis of above findings hypotheses H1, H2, H3 are

rejected & hypothesis H4 is accepted which states that, CSR policies of a
co. engaged in CSR concerning positive duties are based on some kind
of common-sense morality.

This also indicates that the moral foundations of the official ethical
guidelines of companies do not seem to mirror the moral foundations of
managers.