The Moral Duty to Love One’s Stakeholders

Abstract

Much has been written about the general moral duty to love one’s neighbors. In this article, I explore the specific application of this moral duty in the work setting. I argue from a secular perspective that individuals have the moral duty to love their stakeholders. Loving one’s stakeholders is an affective valuing of the stake-related values these stakeholders pursue and as such is the real recognition of one’s stakeholders as stakeholders and of oneself as a stakeholder of one’s stakeholders. This moral concept of stakeholder love offers promising contributions to stakeholder theory, leadership theories, and ethical theories in general and business ethics theories in particular.

Developing a framework for determining when a company should introduce a new ethical norm

“…Companies also have different levels of closeness with other organizations and individuals. Stakeholders are closer to a company than nonstakeholders are (Kaptein, 2022). The same holds for primary versus secondary stakeholders (Freeman et al, 2010; Kaptein & Wempe, 2002).…”

Becoming a Fraternal Organization: Insights from the Encyclical Fratelli Tutti

“…More widely, what the logic of gift does is to question the internal logic associated with the purpose of each organization reframing their essence. The purpose of organizations has been a much-debated topic in recent literature (Basu, 2019 ; Hollensbe et al, 2014 ), with scholars noting how transforming the heart of the organization can change the way it interacts with society. Would society become more fraternal and just if more organizations and their leaders adopted a logic of gift?…”

“…The imperative of contributing toward the common good has provoked profound changes in the way companies understand their role within society (Handy, 2002 ; Hollensbe et al, 2014 ; Kurtzman & Goldsmith, 2013 ). The corporate world has, at its best, energetically searched for ways of adopting a higher purpose (Mayer, 2021 ; Quinn & Thakor, 2018 ).…”

“…In addition, by understanding the process of becoming fraternal as an organizational journey, we offer a clear distinction from the concept of stakeholder management, which is currently popular in the literature discussing issues related to corporate social responsibility and the role of organizations in society (Hollensbe et al, 2014 ). While recent discussions have stressed how commercial organizations must respond to all stakeholders rather than just shareholders, and consequently include societal, environmental, and economic concerns in their practices, our work reveals a novel way of interpreting how organizations manage relationships with stakeholders.…”

“…Although the encyclical is written primarily as a means for reflection to “all people of good will” (Pope Francis, 2020a , §6), irrespective of their credo, we consider that the communal descriptions offered when discussing fraternity also resonate with organizational life and challenge both scholars and practitioners to reflect upon new ways by which organizations may pursue the common good. Indeed, both scholars and practitioners have defended that organizations must be rebuilt as communities (Cunha et al, 2014 ; Mintzberg 2009 ; Pfeffer 2015 ) that are purposeful (Hollensbe et al, 2014 ), and increasingly expected to work toward the common good (Jung & Kim, 2016 ; Sasaki et al, 2019 ; van Marrewijk 2004 ). Research, however, has not explored how organizations may be fraternal in interacting with stakeholders in the pursuit of the common good.…”