Related Experiment Videos
Humanizing Stakeholders by Rethinking Business
Katinka J P Quintelier1, Joeri van Hugten1, Bidhan L Parmar2
1Department of Management & Organization, School of Business and Economics, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, Amsterdam, Netherlands.
Frontiers in Psychology
|October 11, 2021
Summary
A stakeholder orientation in business increases the humanization of stakeholders, leading to greater moral consideration among them. This research explores how businesses can foster a more ethical stakeholder community.
Area of Science:
- Business Ethics
- Organizational Behavior
- Social Psychology
Background:
- Current business theory often focuses on managerial actions for ethical business practices.
- The role of stakeholders in fostering moral consideration within a firm remains underexplored.
- Understanding how business orientations influence stakeholder perceptions is crucial for ethical business environments.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate whether businesses can humanize their stakeholders.
- To examine the causal relationship between business orientation (stakeholder vs. profit), stakeholder humanization, and moral consideration.
- To explore how business practices can enhance the morality of stakeholders towards each other.
Main Methods:
- Conducted six experiments with varying operationalizations of stakeholder and profit orientations.
- Included diverse stakeholders such as employees, suppliers, and labor unions.
- Utilized different participant samples to ensure generalizability of findings.
Main Results:
- Stakeholder-oriented firms led participants to perceive other stakeholders as more human compared to profit-oriented firms.
- Increased humanization of stakeholders positively influenced moral consideration towards other stakeholders.
- Findings confirm that humanization is a key mechanism driving moral consideration among stakeholders.
Conclusions:
- Business orientation significantly impacts the humanization and moral consideration of stakeholders.
- Fostering a stakeholder orientation can cultivate a more moral community within firms.
- Shifting focus from managers to stakeholders themselves offers new avenues for enhancing business ethics.