Abstract
In this editorial to a collection of papers on ethics in small firms, the case is made for greater use of high quality empirical research on business ethics. Sociological perspectives have much to offer to the field of business ethics that continues to be dominated by normative, moral philosophy. The second contribution of the paper is to argue for a re-orientation away from the large multi-national firm as a benchmark subject of business ethics research. One important point of view to be included is that of the small firm, which remains the dominant organisational form throughout all the OECD countries.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Adler, P. and S.-W. Kwon: 2002, 'Social Capital: Prospects for a New Concept', Academy of Management Review 27(1), 17-40.
Carr, P.: 2000, The Age of Enterprise: The Emergence and Evolution of Entrepreneurial Management (Blackhall, Dublin).
Crane, A.: 1999, 'Are You Ethical? Please Tick Yes or No. On Researching Ethics in Business Organisations', Journal of Business Ethics 20(3), 237-248.
Hendry, J.: 2001, 'After Durkheim: An Agenda for the Sociology of Business Ethics', Journal of Business Ethics 34(3-4), 209-218.
OECD: 2001, Fostering Firm Creation and Entrepreneurship, Ch. V. of the New Economy Beyond the Hype (Economic Cooperation and Development, Paris).
OECD: 2002, OECD Small and Medium Sized Enterprise Outlook, Organisation For (Economic Cooperation and Development, Paris).
Paldam, M.: 2000, 'Social Capital: One or Many? Definition and Measurement', Journal of Economic Surveys 14(5), 629-653.
PIU: 2002, Social Capital: A Discussion Paper, Performance and Innovation Unit (Cabinet Office, London).
Putnam, R.: 2000, Bowling Alone: The Collapse and 4 Laura J. Spence and Robert Rutherfoord Revival of American Community (Simon & Shuster, New York).
Reynolds, P. Michael, S. Camp, B. Bygrave, E. Autio, M. Hay: 2002, Global Entrepreneurship Monitor, Summary Report 2001 (London Business School/Babson College, London).
Spence, L. J.: 1998, 'On Effective Interdisciplinary Alliances in Business Ethics Research: Discussion and Illustration', Journal of Business Ethics 17(9), 1029-1044.
Spence, L. J.: 1999, 'Does Size Matter?: The State of the Art in Small Business Ethics', Business Ethics: A European Review 8(3) (July), 163-174.
Spence, L. J., R. Jeurissen and R. Rutherfoord: 2000, 'Small Business and the Environment in the U.K. and the Netherlands: Towards Stakeholder Cooperation', Business Ethics Quarterly 10(4), 945-965.
Spence, L. J. and R. Rutherfoord: 2001, 'Social Responsibility, Profit Maximisation and the Small Firm Owner-Manager', Small Business and Enterprise Development 8(2), 126-139.
Werhane, P.: 'The Normative/Descriptive Distinction in Methodologies of Business Ethics', Business Ethics Quarterly 4(2), 175-180.
World Bank: 1998, 'The Local Level Institutions Study: Program Description and Prototype Questionnaires', Local Level Institutions Working Paper No. 1, May 1998 and Working Paper No. 2, August 1998 (World Bank, Washington).
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Spence, L.J., Rutherfoord, R. Small Business and Empirical Perspectives in Business Ethics: Editorial. Journal of Business Ethics 47, 1–5 (2003). https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1026205109290
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1026205109290