CHAPTER 3

Rational Corporate Responsibility

The word “responsibility” refers to the state or fact of having a duty to deal with something or of having control over someone, as a state or fact of being accountable and the responsible for blaming when something happens. “Corporate social responsibility is the notion that corporations have an obligation to constituent groups in society other than stockholders and beyond that prescribed by law or union contract” (Jones 1980, 59–60). Business ethics are interconnected to the dimensions of corporate social responsibility (CSR). This implies that the decision makers of a corporation are authorized to take actions, considering the well-being of individuals and the good of society, in order to achieve organizational goals.

CSR is a corporate dimension of actions that takes account of the social, economic, legal, ethical, and environmental impact of how an organization operates (Table 3.1). The latter as an entity, or in other words as an artificial corporate individual that is legally created, is responsible for the rationale of corporate policies, in the context of the integration of moral corporate systems, the implementation of legal requirements, and the overall consistency of its procedures. Sustainable corporate policies emphasize that corporate responsibility must be a top priority under all business functions. Moral actions are directly associated with corporate sustainability. Regarding an approach of mutual enhancement of responsibility, the more the corporation is responsible, the more the individuals become responsible and vice versa, while finding a balance between corporate culture and individual behavior is critical (Constantinescu and Kaptein 2015). The broader range of obligations that corporations have toward society beyond maximizing profits is embedded in the conceptual framework of CSR.

Table 3.1 Corporate responsibility framework

Organizations must operate by securing long-term economic performance by avoiding short-term social and environmental wasteful behaviors (Porter and Kramer 2006). Indeed, many corporations ignore their social obligations, stating that these are not of their business responsibilities. However, successful corporations need a general system of development in terms of education, innovation, health care and the consideration of people needs, and fair treatment for individuals as an integrated and not distinguished part of a healthy society. Only then the workforce could be productive, motivated for work, and devoted to organizational and personal goals. Hence, CSR is the process of applied ethics that a business must consider in order to serve social and corporate expectations.

There is a distinct relationship between the corporation and its policies with the issues concerning the society in which it operates. For instance, the emergence of multinational corporations led them to include in their CSR programs a global corporate citizen philosophy (Cacioppe, Forster, and Fox 2008), as there are factors that have strong worldwide impact, such as concerns about the global environment. A corporation must be aligned with law, financial and other government regulatory, supply chain and pricing practices, have transparent procedures ruled by internal and external supervisors, be able to give equal opportunities to everyone, provide safe working conditions, have fair compensation policies and rewards, develop policies on diversity and discrimination, demonstrate procedures regarding privacy and data management while handling rationally the products and obsolete items.

Also, it must have an enhanced environmental awareness such as for recycling, waste, energy and water usage, emissions, and utilizing natural and technical resources. Corporations must develop strategic motives as they are crucial for adopting an environmental CSR focus (Babiak and Trendafilova 2011). However, integrating corporate and social needs under the same policy program needs more than an agent’s or a shareholder’s good intensions. Being ethical toward society is a continuous and very demanding process. Practitioners need to prioritize corporate needs and place them harmoniously into social expectations. They must choose which social issues to focus on, while not ignoring the other they cannot focus due to their position or available resources. Value-driven management and leadership are associated with both economic efficiency and a great number of ethical values. Morals are not only subject of internal behavior but they also reflect the ethical identity of the organization toward society and other entities. Hence, it is essential for a corporation to develop a moral vision, related to shared values and perceptions.

For instance, corporate philanthropy is a significant start, but this is not enough as an attempt to be characterized as a social contributor. Corporations and their people must behave with ethical commitment for improving general quality in a community. Thus, if the corporate policy is to set high prices to its goods and services, to maximize financial return, and then to promote and implement social responsibility programs, this process can be criticized from rather different perspectives. Some people may want lower prices on goods and services, as an opportunity to offer help and philanthropic actions to other entities by themselves. On the flipside, other people may need to centralize social responsibility behavior by giving large companies in private sector the authority to do such activities, even if the cost for this process is higher price tags of the provided goods and services.

In any case, corporations must develop their policies in the sense of fairness and meritocracy, considering the rights of others. If the resources of a corporation are not enough to implement CSR programs, then policy makers must find ways that do not require spending money at all. For instance, companies with low budget can make decisions and operate in a way that does not harm others, so without additional cost they can have a moral CSR program. Indeed, most businesses around the world are preferring this kind of action to deal with their social image. Most people are waiting from larger corporations to develop and implement social programs, thus entry-level and medium enterprises usually avoid applying such practices, as they feel unable to provide a comprehensive and sustainable policy. But, by avoiding corporate moral obligations in the name of cost or other factors, it makes some businesses present a decreased sense of ethical awareness.

Given the multidimensional demands of the society and human beings, it is impossible to fulfill each desire. Corporations and their policies should not attempt to create lists of community desires, in a short-term base, unless there is a current need or situation that their help could be critical, thus they must present flexibility. Instead of temporary policies, CSR programs must have a vision for the future. Policy makers must take actions that are aligned with law and ethical minimum that is regulated with common rules by the community or government. At the same time, they must develop a wide range of activities, in terms of seeking solutions to broader societal issues, such as health improvements in the context of human well-being, support a precautionary approach to environmental change, or actions against unfair low wages, poverty, and the spread of discrimination in the work environment. Hence, it is essential to comply with laws and regulations, it is critical to make strategic and rational decisions beyond legal duties, while it would be great if a corporation has the resources needed to develop programs that support the local and broader community in which they operate as a set of practices that promote and implement enhanced corporate moral obligations.

Responsibility Defined

The implementation of a CSR program could be characterized as a process of dealing with conflicting interests. This indicates that practitioners must cope with rather different approaches on business ethics and morals of a given community as an attempt to develop policies to approach a balance point that it is fair for all the involved parties. Therefore, before moving to the next step of applied CSR activities, it is essential to develop a comprehensive method to explore what actions are required in the context of ethics and social responsibility, how the corporation can support and develop such activities and with what resources, evaluate the impact of the program toward both the organization itself as an entity and the community in which it operates, and finally explore how it is possible to retain the implementation of such ethical activities. In other words, it is necessary to define the level of corporate responsibility toward other entities and develop procedures in order to implement such strategies.

CSR is measured by following a business organization’s configuration in the context of principles of social responsibility, processes of social responsiveness, and outcomes of social responsibility (Hopkins 2005). Although there is no universal set of specific guidelines to define the CSR level, policy makers can develop such activities through a process of questioning about a series of crucial issues. At first, it is important to consider corporate annual turnover, the organizational structure and needs, the number of employees and their rights, and the position of the corporation within the industrial sector. This is critical as CSR programs can record a wide range of practices to implement, as the corporate size, financial condition, available resources, and human capital in the context of generating ideas and participating in such activities can be well diversified between rather different corporations.

Then, it is important to address the motives and reasons for the corporation and its people to engage in CSR policies. Given the available resources, corporate policies can be developed in such a way to serve rationally both corporate mission and society expectations. A corporation cannot exist as an autonomous entity and ignore the needs and expectations that other individuals and entities have toward the corporation as a member of a community. Similarly, the latter cannot overlook the fact that corporations are established in order to serve their own interests as well, as shareholders take the risk of investing capital as an attempt to develop wealth and make profit from the value that corporate resources and outputs can generate. Thus, practitioners must explore the alternatives, evaluate the expectations from different points of view, make critical decisions in terms of the volume and degree of CSR engagement, and conduct a set of activities that are sustainable and valuable for both corporation and society.

At this point, it is vital to mention the reasons that make a CSR program valuable. Individuals, in the name of a corporation as a legal entity, can develop their responsibility level and moral awareness as a process of increasing their ethical norms and making the existence of the corporation important for the society and people in general, and not only for money-driven individuals. This process can improve financial performance as well, while the commitment levels can be enhanced alongside with the brand value and corporate reputation. An effective CSR program can reduce operating costs and increase productivity because conducting such a policy attracts investors and long-term partnerships, while the corporation can secure good relations with the communities and the government. This makes the corporation more sustainable than before, they exploit and increase their competitive advantage, and it enables them to be associated with additional reputation channels, such as making the brand name as the corporation standard in the industry. This can be insightful for other smaller, similar, or even larger-size companies, while individuals will be willing to be part of a corporation with this level of commitment and engagement.

Thus, the legitimacy of a CSR program can be indicated through the code of ethics, the public responsibility through activities including job creation, contribution to innovation, and regulation compliance, while corporations must develop mechanisms to review social issues relevant to them, evaluate internal issues such as industrial relations and policies, and generate responsible outcomes in terms of social contribution. Hence, the process of questioning provides practitioners a guide on what issues are most important for the corporation and the community, aiming at the creation of a solid, ethical, and fair CSR set of activities. Defining the responsibility of a corporation through critical questions on important issues can be described as a process of internal interview. The difficult part of this process is to be morally fair and honest in order to report not what you would want to answer, but what happens in practice. For instance, among the most critical questions is about the case of employee layoffs. Reporting the causes for these reductions with fair treatment to workers is vital, as practitioners must identify their responsibility when they substitute people for reasons such as the profit, rather than skills or other conflicting interests. The establishment of rational corporate policies means that practitioners recognize their actions in a fair manner, and then alter their behavior in order to implement practices characterized by meritocracy, fairness, and consistency with respect to CSR reporting.

Accordingly, as individuals have their own portion of responsibility, the level and volume of employee involvement in corporate decision-making procedures is crucial. In terms of labor relations, employee involvement shows whether corporate policy and decision makers consider employee voice, which can be translated as an important part on developing corporate responsibility activities. The latter do reflect not only the brand image toward the external environment but also the practices within its internal environment and workplace.

Practices such as to enhance health and safety policies in the workplace; treat employees fairly in terms of work hours, compensation, and benefits; provide training and skills development; respect for multicultural individuals, minorities, and diversity; provide individuals with fair opportunities; and generally to serve the needs of employees are very important CSR activities. Pretending to be a moral employer and at the same time treating internal issues with unethical methods is two times more unethical than trying to be moral when the resources available are not enough to implement practices for external activities. In other words, business ethics has its initial point of reference on internal procedures, and this leads to present an ethical set of activities to the external environment as well. For instance, when a corporation invests to increase the use of renewable energy sources in terms of energy efficiency for its own operations or the level of recycling and reuse, this can be a positive CSR activity for both the internal and external environment.

Therefore, is it possible to conceal an internal corruption or bribery issue as an attempt to avoid responsibilities? Is it possible to receive donations by a third-party entity in order to not unveil an unethical practice or report it to authorities? Is it possible to set profitability as a priority above all other considerations, such as health and safety of employees and consumers? Indeed, many corporations cannot satisfy the above ethical requirements in the name of decreased available financial resources, or avoid taking responsibility by blaming specific individuals for their unethical behavior, such as members of the management. For this reason, it is essential to develop rational corporate policies and codes of behavior, in order to be able to identify who is responsible, and what procedures will be implemented to eliminate such behaviors and practices. These procedures must be shared through all internal corporate communicational channels as a process to define ethical subjects and enhance corporate values.

Policy makers are responsible for developing a series of essential guidelines to promote important ethical principles. In practice, there is a vital relationship between the corporation, the society in which it operates, and the government. This implies that governmental intervention can be a determining factor on developing CSR programs as business initiatives must adhere to legal requirements and rules by following the highest international standards. At the same time, people forming a community can have strong impact on corporate decisions, as they are consumers, employers, suppliers, or other professionals. Additionally, human resources have a fundamental role in business activities. They are responsible as individuals or as a team toward a wide range of issues concerning corporate activity. Hence, unethical practices could mean that consumers would stop buying your goods and services, potential employees would not be willing to be part of your company, while current workers would want to leave, suppliers would lose their trust and withdraw any financial connections with the corporation, and other professionals would not want to associate their name and career with such unethical corporate practices.

Therefore, it is very important to retain a balanced and multidimensional relationship between businesses as legal entities, communities as potential human resources and consumers, and governmental regulation as a strong and ultimate element of controlling corporate behavior in the context of specific legally and morally acceptable principles. Social issues cannot be underemphasized. Economic prosperity cannot be the one and only mission of a business. Furthermore, environmental protection is not the only important issue in terms of social responsibility. It is impossible to secure growth through implementing practices for the environment, while you have exhausted human resources providing them with unhealthy and unpleasant work conditions. Also, it is not possible to believe that social issues can be handled better through private initiatives and corporate programs alone than governmental intervention. Inevitably, corporations, government, and society must cooperatively work, develop an ethical system of common values, exploit resources more efficiently, and serve the interests of all parties involved by approaching a balance point between conflicting issues and interests.

Moreover, practitioners must consider the trends and insights of each era and make principles that can be changed when the beliefs or implementation methods evolve. This flexibility gives the opportunity to adopt changes more efficiently than retaining principles that are not aligned with new practices and needs. Either it is a major or a minor change that takes place due to the developments in the internal or external corporate environment; all individuals must be well informed about the change. Corporate policies must describe and explain why on an optimum level the change is important, what factors are critical to consider the change, and how the latter can be implemented through corporate practices and operations. The capability to change in favor of societal interest or governmental regulation can be a key element of success and competitive advantage. Corporations that cannot consider their responsibilities as legal entities are not capable of retaining market share or recording a sustainable path of growth. Issues regarding business ethics can generate substantial changes in corporate policies, and decision makers must take important steps toward the development of an ethical set of principles.

Ethical CSR Activities

Considering that CSR activities are very important for each organization, the main concept behind ethical CSR activities is to associate moral awareness with traditional and emerging social needs. Starting from the corporate workplace, rational corporate responsibility extends up to the general market, the community within which it operates, and the environment. Hence, corporations develop their virtue ethics as a normative theory of ethics that mentions an individual’s character to be the primary subject of moral judgment. Thus, virtue, as a character and thought attribute that allows an individual to achieve the implementation of morals, is responsible for the development of corporate policies that influence moral behaviors within and outside the range of operations of an organization.

A corporation cannot be characterized as virtuous unless its people present a strong moral behavior and attitude. The critical role of the human factor is the protagonist of corporate policies, as the workforce from the entry level up to the top level is responsible for creating, developing, integrating, and reviewing corporate socially responsible behaviors. For instance, Aristotle argued that the virtues were acquired gradually by practice and laid down by long education, while by the time an individual reaches the middle age, it is very difficult to radically change his or her orientation. Thus, achieving responsible business practices through rational policies implemented by human resources can be done with strong internal communication and training programs, focusing on ethical awareness, while the corporation, as an entity, produces goods and services efficiently and serves the needs of consumers. “A complete ethic needs to be person-centered and act-focused, dynamic as well as static, developmental and decision-focused, and contextually adaptable” (Whetstone 2001, 112).

Limitless growth without considering cost and negative consequences to other entities, and the expectation that always there will be room for an increase in corporate revenue cannot suggest an ethical corporate policy. Organizations must raise their focus on fair and moral consumer treatment by providing products aligned with generally acceptable principles on health and safety. Additionally, the supply chain must be developed with moral policies, while corporations are responsible for ethical research and development. The community in which a corporation operates is significantly important, as if the society forms an unethical picture about a corporation, then its failure is inevitable in some cases. Hence, it is crucial to respect the society, its norms and expectations, its capabilities in terms of education and skills developed, such as the existence of skilled human resources trained by advanced educational institutions, and offer fair, transparent, and equal opportunities to people. Corporations, even if their activities are international, must support local communities with initiatives and moral activities associated with societal well-being and development characteristics.

Environmental issues are once again very important, particularly since the increased environment awareness of the recent decades, due to pollution, health, and climate change issues as they emerge. Global warming is about the rise in average global temperature due to the impact from forcing mechanisms such as concentration of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere and solar activity. Greenhouse gases, such as carbon dioxide, methane, and nitrous oxide, occur naturally in the atmosphere, but also as a result of human activities such as fossil fuel use, deforestation, waste of resources, and agriculture exploitation. This implies that corporate policies must develop climate adaption practices, aiming at managing rationally natural resources, protecting ecosystems, and adjusting activities in such a way to cope with the consequences of climate change.

Exploiting ethically natural resources is critical for each organization and being environmentally friendly must be a top-priority policy. Climatic variability has always been a condition of survival for species. Human beings are not an exception. Responding to climate change requires local, regional, national, and international responsibility in terms of actions. Policy makers must understand and analyze the social environment in which the corporation operates and identify the areas in which corporate activities might improve environmental value. Also, as climate and environment in general record an unprecedented pace of change, policy makers must consider the feedback of corporate activities, and develop strategies on how these could be more rational than previous implementations, achieving higher levels of environmental and corporate performance.

CSR activities must be measured and evaluated, considering their effectiveness toward the organization, human resources, and the environment in which they operate. For instance, following the Great Depression of 1929 and the subprime lending crisis in 2008, the governments and global institutions have increased the level of rules and law coverage over corporate practices. Consequently, organizations focus on environmental protection, on the development of a comprehensive code of conduct, on programs about health and safety, as well as on activities on charity and the general support of the community. Therefore, moral corporate policies cover environmental and economic issues, the responsibility of producing goods and services according to regulations and law, and most importantly the employee rights and labor practices in terms of the development of a sustainable work environment.

For instance, the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) has published a guide under the term of ISO 26000:2010 covering different aspects of social responsibility (ISO 2010). Implementing such framework can enhance the corporate competitive advantage, its reputation, and the ability to bolster its employees’ morale and commitment, corporate productivity rates, and its relationship with consumers, suppliers, shareholders, governments, and community in which it operates. Particularly, the principles of social responsibility include accountability, transparency, ethical behavior, and respect for stakeholder interests, the rule of law, international norms of behavior, and human rights. Therefore, recognizing the subject of social responsibility activities is crucial, as it affects the general organizational governance, in terms of work environment, labor practices, fair operating practices, and policies on the environment, employee involvement, and community.

Moreover, policy makers employ different approaches on how to conduct a set of guidelines in order to promote ethical CSR activities. Indeed, financial performance, labor relations, and the impact of corporate practices toward society have been always a challenging process for policy makers. Thus, the implementation of a rational package of policies eliminates any inconvenience in terms of being associated with unethical corporate practices. This suggests that the actions taken to ensure adherence to ethical corporate policies are very important for each sector and business industry.

Practitioners must not ignore and undermine human rights, while the product itself is similarly essential to consider. Corporate policies on product hazards and consumer complaints must be developed in such a way that respond to consumer demands and the society. It can be stated that corporation’s willingness to take responsibility on a specific issue does not mean that people will accept that as a fact, in terms of ignoring the issue and its consequences. Undeniably, some corporations may take advantage of their size and volume of operations, particularly for multinational companies in order to make the community forget the unethical practices. However, a moral thinker cannot be satisfied with this policy. It is impossible to implement strategies of avoiding your responsibilities by exploiting other’s vulnerability.

The effectiveness of CSR activities on decreasing or eliminating the level of unethical and unlawful conduct in an organization cannot be measured only with raw data and key indicators. Instead, the efficiency of implementing strategies and corporate policies that have ethics as their core procedure can be visualized as the creation of an ethical work climate. Though the societal culture as a very powerful factor that influences the behavior of individuals, the work environment can be even greater in terms of developing a strong relationship with individuals. Some employees may be more susceptible to the influence of corporate policies, while others may have solid sensitivity and cannot accept the change effortlessly. Therefore, there is no common procedure to identify the level of commitment on CSR programs, but at the same time, corporate policies can be a dominating factor for shaping new thoughts and perceptions for individuals and entire communities.

Hence, the epicenter of the establishment of such programs is the argument against illegal behavior. This is a priority for each corporation, as it has legal consequences not only to the individual who act illegally, but also to the organization that the practitioner represents toward the consumers, suppliers, shareholders, community, and government. Thus, regular ethical courses and in-depth analysis wherever individuals cannot directly realize the impact of their activities is very critical for a successful CSR program.

Loyalty toward the ethical principles and procedures of the corporation means that no one is authorized to act unethically, even if the behavior stems from a high-level executive. Individuals must follow an integral concept of behavior, in terms of acting morally because they want to, and not because they are forced to do it. With honesty and respect, corporate policies can develop individual mindset capacity in the context of ethics, and consequently create a healthy corporate environment in which individuals want to contribute the most, while they raise concerns for the other employees, the corporation as an entity, the environment, and the society in which they belong and operate.

Moral Employer Brand

Building an ethical corporation and employer brand signifies that corporate policies must develop a set of qualities, attributes, and ethical considerations that make the corporation an important and valuable part for society and responsible to all the other entities. The brand is the core component of a corporate’s reputation, while there is a clear link between the latter and ethical branding (Fan 2005). Thus, it is important to analyze corporate goals, the procedures that are required to create an efficient and moral working environment, the capacity of opportunities that the organization can provide to local, regional, national, and international resources, and the terms and conditions of employment that it offers. Concerning the above conditions, corporate policies must create a moral brand image of the organization that the employees, shareholders, and society accept through the time. The brand is not only a status of reputation for a business. A moral employer has a series of benefits, such as claim of a larger marker share, attraction of best human resources, better negotiations with suppliers, and the creation of a multidimensional channel of partners and loyal consumers.

Creating a moral employer brand is not easy. Policy makers must analyze what society and human resources expect from the organization and consider their needs and wants in order to provide better opportunities. Undeniably, corporate climate and its core values can have a significant impact on individuals and their perceptions. Particularly, CSR initiatives and policies can shape employee perceptions and affect employee commitment and motivation (Collier and Esteban 2007). Hence, it is important to build an environment that enhances fairness and meritocracy, by providing human resources a trustworthy relationship of development and excellence. At the same time, these core values of the organization can have a strong impact on the society in which the corporation operates. Therefore, it is essential for each corporation to develop policies that promote human rights, environmental activities for the common good, and bolster people’s potential to perform better and achieve personal goals.

Moral employer brand, as a concept of CSR and reputation management, is crucial for the development of business ethics. Indeed, there is a positive relationship between perceived CSR and reputation, as well as between employer brand perception and reputation (Verčič and Ćorić 2018). Practices employed by corporations aimed at improving the view of other entities, such as the public perception of a local or wider community, and the beliefs of consumers, employees, investors, and business partners. Communicative activities through extended marketing plans and events related to the public relations department of an organization cannot create a positive attitude toward the corporation unless the latter presents moral values.

Covering unethical practices by promoting positive reputational management is a process that can decrease the real value of a corporation. Reliability, trustworthiness, and validity are not perceptions that can be developed instantly, or just by implementing a great communicational strategy. For instance, in the context of trustworthiness, values such as honesty, integrity, transparency, loyalty, and the process of keeping promises are essential for the development of a moral individual, and consequently for the development of a moral employer brand. Loyalty from employees, consumers, community, and other interested parties can be developed only in a way that the corporation implements strategies of mutual respect, considering other entities as part of the core CSR program.

Business history shows that corporations can have a disastrous downturn if people do not recognize their unethical side on practices, such as providing consumers products and services that are harmful for their health or treat employees without considering their values and needs. Particularly in times of crises such as the 2008 financial crisis or the 2020 pandemic outbreak, corporations have seen an extended focus on active reputation management, even though at the same time, their employees may have psychological issues due to exhausting work conditions, while in some extreme cases the weakest employees may lead themselves even to suicide. This is a reality, and since the mass production becomes a common practice in the entrepreneurial world, and because of the ever-increasing competition in the global economy, some corporations completely ignore their core mission on values and ethics, putting financial performance as their only priority without considering the consequences of their practices to other entities and to the society in which they operate.

Therefore, the suggestion that corporations are ethically acceptable if they are legal can lead to wrong perceptions. Indeed, corporate policies must be rational and moral. This demonstrates that an effective strategy about moral employer brand development must include practices of fairness and meritocracy. The spectrum of such practices must be morally associated with each corporate operation. A good reputation that has its roots to unethical and misleading information is not acceptable. A moral thinker must recognize that the problem is not the possibility of the widespread of a scandal, but the scandal itself. We care what other individuals think about us, and this is a totally unintentional process. People tend to compare situations considering a wide range of different conditions and criteria, and then form perceptions about specific issues that they are interested at. Also, some corporations may believe that by staying silent about topics such as work climate and employee well-being or environmental care, they can avoid any bad reputation development. However, this practice cannot be evaluated as acceptable by a rational and ethical organization. Policy makers cannot ignore the reality, they must not put aside ethics for the best of the interests of some individuals or entities, and they should increase their moral capacity in the context of influencing other individuals to ethical behavior, on the level that they are capable of.

Building a corporate identity of ethics and making a company socially responsible require a set of flexible and solid core values based on the moral entity consideration principle. If a policy maker attempts to copy corporate policies of other brands, the result will not be as much as efficient as an original strategy. Additionally, common standards on corporate regulatory controlled by public authorities are essential to exist; however, this process cannot ensure a universal implementation of common policies because of rather different corporate characteristics and resources, thus whether a corporation is capable of adhering to these standards. When an organization proceeds with the announcement that its core policies are aligned with international standards over a specific concern, this does not necessarily mean that the corporate practices are entirely ethical.

A corporation must cope with unethical or even illegal behavior on the part of its employees or executives. Individuals have their own perspective on ethical dilemmas in the workplace or in their personal life. Thus, though policy makers are not authorized to control any aspect of individual’s personal life, as people are responsible for their behavior in a community, corporate agents are responsible for the level of ethical awareness that the employees present within the context of work environment. This indicates that corporate policies must include a variety of activities for transferring and promoting moral thinking and practices to everyone in the workplace. In response to this, practitioners must formulate codes of conduct and communicate multidimensional moral guidelines, such as conducting internal ethical audits. Also, they must provide employees seminars and knowledge sessions on how to become a moral thinker, and how to behave ethically, not because they must due to corporate policies or social norms, but because it must be due an internal process as an attempt to be a valuable part of a community.

Concluding Remarks

Business ethics is interconnected to the dimensions of CSR, divided into the core and societal responsibilities of a corporation. The moral actions of the latter are directly associated with organizational sustainability, which entails to a broader range of obligations that corporations have toward society beyond maximizing their profits. Being ethical is a continuous and very demanding process. Practitioners need to prioritize corporate needs considering a variety of factors in the context of their internal and external environment. Policy makers must take actions that are aligned with law and ethical minimum, while given the available resources, human capital, and organizational size, corporate policies can be developed in such a valuable way to serve rationally both corporate mission and society expectations. This conveys how a moral employer brand can be formed, and how you can build loyalty, trust, integrity, and values, instead of covering unethical practices.