Papers

Laszlo Zsolnai ‘Ethical Decision Making.’ , in Interdisciplinary Yearbook of Business Ethics, ed. Laszlo Zsolnai, Peter Lang, Oxford – Bern – Berlin – Bruxelles – Frankfurt am Main – New York – Wien, 2006. (This book may be available at: Amazon) The self-centeredness of modern organizations leads to environmental destruction and human deprivation. The principle of responsibility developed by Hans Jonas requires caring for the beings affected by our decisions and actions. Ethical decision making creates a synthesis of… Read More »Ethical Decision Making

Laszlo Zsolnai ‘Competitiveness and Corporate Social Responsibility.’ CSR Papers, Eni Enrico Mattei Foundation, Milano. , 2006, pp. 1-14 The paper addresses the problem of the relationship between competitiveness and CSR, and analyses the reasons why the opportunistic use of CSR is counter-productive. It attempts to establish how ethical behaviour can survive in highly competitive markets, and tries to find the new meaning of competitiveness in the light of CSR. The final section of the paper describes how a… Read More »Competitiveness and Corporate Social Responsibility

Laszlo Zsolnai ‘The Rationality of Trust .’ International Journal of Social Economics , 2005, vol.32, no. 3, pp. 268-269 Russell Hardin is one of the most respected scholars in political science and rational choice theory. His book is a summary of his decade long preoccupation with trust research. He has been a key figure in the Russell Sage Foundation monumental Trust project. His present book is a groundbreaking achievement, which gives a highly consistent and systematic account of trust… Read More »The Rationality of Trust

Laszlo Zsolnai ‘Genuine Business Ethics.’ Ethics Matters, 2004, pp. 1-3 Ethics is fundamental to and relevant at all levels of economic activity, from the individual and the organizational to the societal and the global. Yet there is a paradox in the proposition that higher standards of behavior in today’s world will automatically lead to higher profits and better performance. If the aim of top executives is merely to use ethics to achieve greater efficiency their efforts will… Read More »Genuine Business Ethics

Laszlo Zsolnai ‘Honesty and Trust in Economic Relationships.’ Management Research News, 2004, vol.27, no. 7, pp. 57-62 Trust is not a homogeneous phenomenon. In economic relationships different trust structures are at work, including distrust, negative trust and the lack of trust. Perceived honesty and competence co-determine the trust structures the agents might have in interacting with others. Trust structures influence the way agents are engaged in economic relationships.  Honesty and competence should be developed to improve trust structures… Read More »Honesty and Trust in Economic Relationships

Laszlo Zsolnai, & Laszlo Fekete ‘Building Ethical Institutions for Business.’ Journal of Business Ethics, 2004, vol.53, no. 1, pp. 1-2 Ethics in business is not only about personal choices, nor about organizational or corporate habits and behavior or even about global developments. Ethics in business is facing increasingly institutions of various kinds, social, economic, political, by which ethical possibilities for business are greatly influenced, positively or negatively. We can think of new alliances between public and private players,… Read More »Building Ethical Institutions for Business

Laszlo Zsolnai ‘Taking Spirituality Seriously.’ , in Spirituality and Ethics in Management, ed. Laszlo Zsolnai, Kluwer Academic Publishers, Boston, Dordrecht and London, 2004. (This book may be available at: Amazon) A new agenda for the development of spirituality and management is presented. One facet of the agenda concentrates on practice: how businesses (and other organizations such as  universities, government entities, not-for-profit health organizations and so on) should be transformed into more inclusive, holistic and peaceful activity systems serving nature,… Read More »Taking Spirituality Seriously

Laszlo Zsolnai ‘The Morality of Economic Man.’ European Business Review , 2004, pp. 449-454 Economic behavior is multifaceted and context-dependent. In the “I & We” paradigm developed by Amitai Etzioni, economic behavior is co-determined by utility calculations and moral considerations. Two major factors can explain the ethicality of economic behavior; namely, the moral character of the agents and the relative cost of ethical behavior. Economic agents are moral beings, but the ethical fabric of the economy determines which… Read More »The Morality of Economic Man

Laszlo Zsolnai ‘Honesty versus Cooperation: A Reinterpretation of the Moral Behavior of Economics Students.’ American Journal of Economics & Sociology, 2003, vol.62, no. 4, pp. 707-712 A variety of empirical evidence suggests that economics students are less co-operative than students in other disciplines are. Anthony M. Yezer and his colleagues have recently provided a strong counter-example claiming that economics students behave in a more honest way than non-economics students do. Since honesty and co-operation are not the same… Read More »Honesty versus Cooperation: A Reinterpretation of the Moral Behavior of Economics Students

Laszlo Zsolnai ‘Future of Capitalism.’ , in Ethics in the Economy – Handbook of Business Ethics, ed. Laszlo Zsolnai, Peter Lang, Oxford, Bern, Berlin, 2002. (This book may be available at: Amazon) The moral foundation of capitalism should be reconsidered. Modern capitalism is disembedded from the social and cultural norms of society. Reciprocity and social capital play vital roles in providing public goods in advanced market economies. The stakeholder relationship is a key in the functioning of business in… Read More »Future of Capitalism