Social Systems as Moral Agents: A Systems Approach to Moral Agency in Business

Journal of Business Ethics · 2024 · Volume 195 · Issue 4

Abstract

In the context of business, interactions between individuals generate social systems that emerge anywhere within a corporation or in its relations with external agents. These systems influence the behaviors of individuals and, as a result, the collective actions we usually attribute to corporations. Social systems thus make a difference in processes of action that are often morally evaluated by internal and external agents to the firm. Despite this relevance, social systems have not yet been the object of specific attention in the literature on moral agency in business. To fill this gap, I construct a theoretical framework based on Luhmann’s ideas on social systems and morality. In particular, I argue that morality is a phenomenon that occurs in communication, and an agent can engage in morality in three different ways (as amoral factor, anexpressive moral agent, or areflective moral agent) depending on the functions it plays in communicative interactions. Based on this framework, I argue that social systems in business can be considered moral agents of those types.

Keywords

Social systems, Morality, Moral factor, Expressive moral agency, Reflexive moral agency

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