Care Ethics and Stakeholder Theory

Abstract

Stakeholder theory suggests that businesses have moral and social responsibilities beyond just obeying the law, avoiding deceptive business practices, and providing stockholders with high returns on their investments. According to stakeholder theory, businesses also have a responsibility to consider the interests and attend to the needs of all individuals and groups who are affected by their policies and operations, including employees, consumers, suppliers, the local community, and others. Several business ethicists have identified care ethics as a fruitful resource for developing stakeholder theories. Yet, existing care-based stakeholder theories are vague in some critical areas and consequently do not yield clear practical advice. In this article, I extend and clarify a care-based stakeholder theory in order to spell out more fully what it means to conduct business in a caring manner. I outline three priority rules for guiding difficult managerial decisions or trade-offs, and offer practical examples to show how care ethics can apply to the everyday management of a successful business enterprise. By addressing the weaknesses of existing accounts of care-based stakeholder theories, I further demonstrate how care ethics can contribute to a more robust and useful account of stakeholder theory in general.