Moving Toward a More Caring Stakeholder Theory: Global Business Ethics in Dialogue with the Feminist Ethics of Care

Abstract

Since the initial publication of R. Edward Freeman’s book Strategic Management: A Stakeholder Approach in 1984, stakeholder theory has taken on an increasingly important role in the literature on business ethics. Indeed, in many ways stakeholder theory has come to represent the currently de facto standard approach to business ethics. According to stakeholder theory, business is both inherently a relational activity and one that gives rise to significant moral obligations as a result of the relationships it involves. Given this emphasis on relationships, it is thus perhaps surprising that little connection has been made between stakeholder theory in business ethics and the ethics of care, as the ethics of care stresses the role of significant relationships and emotional responsiveness in moral development. Because of the relational elements of both stakeholder theory and the ethics of care, there would seem to be important areas for dialogue between the two theories. As such, in this chapter we explore the ways in which the ethics of care can supplement the development and implementation of a more robust account of stakeholder theory. In this respect, we argue that insights developed from the ethics of care can help overcome certain serious deficiencies in stakeholder theory as currently developed.