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Cover of Ethical Review of Social Sciences, volume 1, issue 1
Archive issue

Ethical inquiry across institutions, markets and environments

The inaugural issue explores environmental ethics, leadership, analyst incentives, decentralised knowledge and the journal's founding purpose.

Published
16 March 2025
Articles
5
Access
Open access
Table of contents

Research articles

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  1. 01

    Research Article · Pages 1–12

    The Machiavellian Challenge to Business Ethics

    George Bragues

    No political philosopher is better known in the business world than Niccolo Machiavelli. His fame resting on The Prince, the Renaissance Italian writer has often been featured in the popular business press, mostly to show the relevance of his realpolitik world-view to the sorts of issues that a contemporary manager is apt to face. However, the popular view of Machiavelli as a hard-headed thinker has been challenged by scholars pointing to his advocacy of republics in the Discourses on Livy, his other great work. Interpreted along these lines, Machiavelli can be invoked to support participatory structures in business along with the cultivation of publicly spirited virtues. We argue that the common perceptions of Machiavelli are actually on a better track. His analysis of republics uncovers weaknesses germane to business that render The Prince more suitable to commercial life. As such, Machiavelli’s overriding point is that in a competitive arena, such as that of modern-day business, individuals holding leadership positions, or aspiring to them, must be prepared to go beyond conventional morality and live by a different and, indeed, icy set of rules. Being good in business, Machiavelli warns, will only lead to personal ruin. Machiavelli goes further than this, calling for a trans-valuation of values, wherein the praiseworthy quality of leaders are redefined so as to take into account the competitive realities of business. In this new ethic, virtue is connected to acquisitiveness, moral flexibility, image management, and reaches its culmination in the entrepreneurial task of founding a great company.

  2. 02

    Research Article · Pages 13–24

    The Origins of a Rebellion: Religion, Land, and a Western Environmental Ethic

    Jerrold Long

    This article examines an apparent irony in the environmental ethic of the contemporary American West. Much of the Interior West is dominated by a particular culture that is the product of Mormon settlement in the Salt Lake Valley and subsequent expansion throughout the region. The teachings of early Mormon leaders contained significant threads of what today would be recognized as environmentalism. Despite these teachings, and despite Mormons’ famously strict adherence to other theological tenets, the environmental ethic of the contemporary West is often perceived as anti-environment. Why would this culture, which holds so fast to its other religious teachings — including those teachings that for a time had significant and negative political, legal, and economic effects — reject this aspect of religious doctrine? Using the Mormon experience as a case study, this article argues that the contemporary West’s conservative environmental ethic is a tapestry woven from the interrelationships of legal regimes found and developed during western settlement, the cultural origins and destinations of the settlers, and the physical landscape itself. It is both what settlers found and developed upon arriving in the interior West that led to the region’s contemporary environmental conservatism.

  3. 03

    Research Article · Pages 25–35

    Incentives for Accuracy in Analyst Research

    Patricia Crifo, Hind Sami

    This paper develops a model to explore the dynamic interaction between incentive contracts and financial analysts' efforts in producing high-quality research, while accounting for both ethical and reputational concerns. Our findings indicate that compensation structures shaped by reputational and ethical considerations can give rise to incentive-related challenges. Specifically, an exclusive reliance on financial incentives exacerbates conflicts of interest, as analysts may prioritize short-term gains at the expense of their long-term reputation. In contrast, a more balanced approach, which integrates both monetary and non-monetary rewards aligned with analysts' intrinsic work ethic, allows them to better resist such pressures, leading to enhanced research quality and a strengthened long-term reputation.

  4. 04

    Research Article · Pages 36–47

    From Decentralization to Ethical Resilience: A Critical Reappraisal and Extension of Hayek’s Theory of Knowledge in Society

    Frans Lavdari

    Friedrich Hayek’s The Use of Knowledge in Society presents a seminal argument for the virtues of decentralized knowledge and the price mechanism, positing that markets, by leveraging dispersed, context-specific knowledge, can achieve efficient resource coordination without central oversight. Hayek’s work has deeply influenced economic thought, particularly in its defence of spontaneous order and its critique of central planning. However, Hayek’s framework, developed in a pre-digital and less interconnected economic landscape, reveals limitations when confronted with today’s challenges, such as digital monopolies, ecological degradation, and economic inequality. This article critically examines Hayek’s theoretical positions, revealing inconsistencies and limitations when applied to the complexities of modern global economies. The article then presents an evolved framework—the Ethically Resilient Market Theory (ERMT)—which builds upon Hayek’s insights, incorporating principles of ethical accountability, ecological valuation, and resilience to address the ethical and practical demands of contemporary economic life.

  5. 05

    Editorial Note · Pages 48–50

    From the Editors

    Frans Lavdari

    With this note, the Editors are pleased to present the first series of publications of Ethical Review of Social Sciences.