Business Ethics, Corporate Responsibility and the Law

Dear Colleagues,

Despite their positive impacts in addressing employment and social problems and their philanthropic contributions, business organisations such as corporations, especially listed and multinational companies, have been criticised for causing a number of social, environmental and human rights problems, with violations in areas such as child labour and environmental pollution. Corporate responsibility and business ethics, as a major contemporary focus for companies, governments, NGOs and communities, has been discussed from a multi-disciplinary perspective, including the disciplines of philosophy, business management, law, politics, sociology and economics, as well as pragmatically by businesspeople and politically by public representatives. However, despite this wide and multi-disciplinary recognition, there is no consensus about the definition, nature and future of corporate responsibility and business ethics.

This definitional ambiguity not only makes it difficult for stakeholders seeking to hold companies accountable; it also leaves companies open to considerable risks, including corporate lawsuits, protests and criticism from media and the public. The dynamic nature of corporate responsibility and business ethics implies that it is sometimes necessary to redefine the boundaries of what is acceptable, feasible and profitable, and to relate these boundaries to corporate decisions and strategies. Notwithstanding its positive social and environmental impacts, corporate responsibility and business ethics have come in for their share of criticism over the years for being ill-defined and fundamentally flawed, with accusations such as green-washing, contradictions with corporate purposes, corporate culture, law enforcement, and the subjective nature of business judgements. Remedies in the existing literature have suggested a limited focus on individual stakeholder groups, concentrating on concepts such as employee satisfaction, customer satisfaction, creditor protection, environmental protection or reputation, and supply chains.

This Special Issue aims to provide arguments in favour of promoting stakeholders’ interests in a collective manner in the domain of law. The authors are asked to explore the possibility of using different legal instruments and theories to make corporate responsibilities and business ethics more solid, convincing, rational, and, most importantly, applicable and meaningful. It is expected that new notions and theories will be developed, and legislative reforms will be suggested in order to address the mismatching and conflicting nature of the relationship between the traditional voluntarism of corporate responsibility, global trends and the critical need for regulation in this area.

In this Special Issue, original research articles and reviews are welcome. Research areas may include (but may not be limited to) the following:

a. business ethics, corporate responsibility and the regulation of disruptive technologies such as AI and blockchain;

b. business ethics and regulation theories;

c. corporate social responsibility and corporate law instruments such as mandatory information disclosure or directors’ duties;

d. business ethics, corporate responsibility and the effectiveness of soft law;

e. vulnerability, vulnerability theory and business ethics;

f. the nature and scope of ethical standards in relation to business practices;

g. the extra-territorial responsibility of Multinational Enterprises;

h. business ethics and human rights;

i. SDGs, business ethics and law;

j. investigating business ethics and corporate responsibility in the era of the pandemic.

Prof. Dr. Jingchen Zhao
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

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• business ethics
• corporate responsibility
• corporate law
• environmental law
• labor law
• human rights enforcement
• sustainability
• enforcement
• corporations
• multinational enterprises