Hostname: page-component-5db58dd55d-688nx Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2026-06-08T21:44:16.570Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Loyalty, Corporations, and Community

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  23 January 2015

George D. Randels Jr
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract:

Some recent discussions of corporate loyalty have found it misguided, while others see it as crucial for financial success. There is also disagreement over the nature of loyalty. This article analyzes the concept of loyalty, arguing that it is neither a duty nor a virtue (although it has overlaps with those categories), but a passion related to various virtues (and vices). Contrary to standard accounts of capitalism, loyalty does not necessarily oppose self-interest. Furthermore, corporations can and should be communities, and insofar as they are, they are proper objects for loyalty. If corporations are not communities, then loyalty to them cannot exist.

Information

Type
Loyalty
Information
Business Ethics Quarterly , Volume 11 , Issue 1 , January 2001 , pp. 27 - 39
Copyright
Copyright © Society for Business Ethics 2001

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Article purchase

Temporarily unavailable

References

Duska, Ronald. 1990. “Whistleblowing and Employee Loyalty.” In Contemporary Issues in Business Ethics, 2nd ed., ed. Des Jardins, Joseph R. and McCall, John J., pp. 142–146. Belmont, Calif.: Wadsworth. Reprinted in Business Ethics: A Philosophical Reader, ed. White, Thomas I., pp. 551–556. New York: Macmillan, 1993.Google Scholar
Ewin, R. E. 1992. “Loyalty and Virtues.” The Philosophical Quarterly 42: 403–419.Google Scholar
Fletcher, George R 1993. Loyalty: An Essay on the Morality of Relationships. New York: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Freeman, R. Edward. 1994. “The Politics of Stakeholder Theory: Some Future Directions.” Business Ethics Quarterly 4: 409–421.Google Scholar
Haughey, John C. 1993. “Does Loyalty in the Workplace Have a Future?” Business Ethics Quarterly 3: 1–16.Google Scholar
Lewis, Michael. 1989. Liar’s Poker: Rising Through the Wreckage on Wall Street. New York: W. W. Norton and Co.Google Scholar
Meyer, John P. and Allen, Natalie J.. 1997. Commitment in the Workplace: Theory, Research, and Application. Thousand Oaks, Calif.: Sage Publications.Google Scholar
Nathanson, Stephen. 1993. “Fletcher on Loyalty and Universal Morality.” Criminal Justice Ethics 12: 56–62.Google Scholar
Oldenquist, Andrew. 1982. “Loyalties.” The Journal of Philosophy 79: 173–193.Google Scholar
Pfeiffer, Raymond S. 1992. “Owing Loyalty to One’s Employer.” Journal of Business Ethics 11: 535–543.Google Scholar
Pincoffs, Edmund L. 1986. Quandaries and Virtues: Against Reductivism in Ethics. Lawrence: University Press of Kansas.Google Scholar
Rachels, James. 1999. The Elements of Moral Philosophy. 3rd ed. Boston: McGraw-Hill College.Google Scholar
Reichheld, Frederick F. (with Thomas Teal). 1996. The Loyalty Effect: The Hidden Force Behind Growth, Profits, and Lasting Value. Boston: Harvard Business School Press.Google Scholar
Royce, Josiah. 1908, 1920. The Philosophy of Loyalty. New York: Macmillan.Google Scholar
Selznick, Philip. 1992. The Moral Commonwealth: Social Theory and the Promise of Community. Berkeley: University of California Press.Google Scholar
Solomon, Robert C. 1990. A Passion for Justice: Emotions and the Origins of the Social Contract. Reading, Mass.: Addison-Wesley Publishing Co.Google Scholar
Solomon, Robert C. 1992. Ethics and Excellence: Cooperation and Integrity in Business. New York: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Solomon, Robert C. 1994. “The Corporation as Community: A Reply to Ed Hartman.” Business Ethics Quarterly 4: 271–285.Google Scholar
Solomon, Robert C. “Two Cheers for Loyalty.” 1996. The Economist, Jan. 6, p. 49.Google Scholar
Wolfe, Alan. 1997. “On Loyalty.” Wilson Quarterly 21: 46–6.Google Scholar