Year: 2026
Type: article
Abstract: Business ethics is often framed as a problem of managerial discretion or outcome evaluation. However, markets are institutional structures that require public justification under conditions of pluralism. The paper asks which normative framework can provide such justification while generating determinate guidance. Consequentialist and deontological approaches are shown to underdetermine institutional evaluation due to failures of attribution, public ordering, and agent-dependence, while institutional alternatives remain insufficient for the task of public institutional justification. In response, the paper advances a Rawlsian social contract framework as the best fit, as it provides public justification, evaluates institutions through the basic structure, and generates determinate principles. The central finding is that stakeholder claims are more accurately understood as claims of citizens, and that business ethics is best conceived as a problem of institutional justice.
Authors: Anirban Mukherjee, Prabhu Venkataraman
Institution: Indian Institute of Technology Guwahati
Language: English
Subfield: Information Systems and Management
Field: Decision Sciences
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: gold
Estimated APC paid: $1,890
OpenAlex ID: W7203875639
FWCI:
Cites:
Cited by:
Related to: