Is stakeholder theory really ethical?

Okechukwu Enyinna

doi:10.15249/7-2-38

Okechukwu Enyinna Departmentof Research, Lagos Business School, Pan-Atlantic University

Keywords: Instrumental theory, normative theor, pragmatism, separation thesis, stakeholder theory

Abstract

Stakeholder theory claims to promote moral values in business and this claim is generally accepted. Yet, literature shows that the theory is fundamentally strategic and only incidentally normative. This paper explores the assumptions of philosophical pragmatism that underpin the theory and concludes that the theory does not qualify as normative, since its conception of morality is basically hypothetical.Â

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