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Societies for Business Ethics

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DOI: 10.1002/9781118785317.weom020042

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societies for business ethics
Archie B. Carroll
Societies for business ethics are organizations
created for and sustained by individuals inter-
ested in the subject of business ethics. Such
societies are typically based in academia and
are composed primarily of academic members,
but are also open to practitioner members.
Such organizations periodically meet to discuss
their common interests, and they frequently
hold annual meetings for discourse among
members. Societies for business ethics typi-
cally publish periodic newsletters and sponsor
working groups, and some sponsor journals or
periodicals for thought and research on the topic
of business ethics.
Prominent societies for business ethics include
the Society for Business Ethics (SBE), the Inter-
national Association for Business and Society
(IABS), the International Society of Business,
Economics, and Ethics (ISBEE), the European
Business Ethics Network (EBEN), the Social
Issues in Management (SIM) Division of the
Academy of Management, and the Association
for Practical and Professional Ethics (APPE),
and Academy of Business in Society (EABIS).
SOCIETY FOR BUSINESS ETHICS (SBE)
SBE is an international organization of scholars
engaged in the academic study of business ethics.
Founded in 1980, SBE has a number of impor-
tant objectives, among which are the following:
to promote the study of business ethics; provide
a forum in which moral, legal, empirical, and
philosophical issues of business ethics may be
openly discussed and analyzed; provide a means
by which those interested in and concerned with
business ethics may exchange ideas; promote
research and scholarship; promote the improve-
ment of business ethics teaching in universities
and organizations; and develop and maintain
a friendly and cooperative relationship among
teachers, researchers, and practitioners in the
field of business and organizational ethics.
SBE conducts an annual meeting for the
presentation of research and issues a newsletter
with information of interest to members.
SBE publishes a highly respected journal,
Wiley Encyclopedia of Management, edited by Professor Sir Cary L Cooper.
Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Business Ethics Quarterly, for the dissemina-
tion of the most important scholarship in the
field, along with other publications. For more
information about SBE, consult http://www.
societyforbusinessethics.org/.
INTERNATIONAL ASSOCIATION FOR BUSINESS
AND SOCIETY (IABS)
IABS is a learned society devoted to research
and teaching about the relationships between
business, government, and society. Business
ethics is one of its most important topics. IABS
was founded in 1990 and now has over 300
members worldwide from over 100 universities
in more than 20 countries, as well as members
from various corporations and nonprofit organi-
zations. IABS is a multidisciplinary association
that attracts scholars and executives from all the
disciplines of business and management.
Key objectives of IABS are to advance
research, teaching, and professional stan-
dards in the field of Business and Society by
facilitating exchange of information and ideas
and encouraging and assisting activities that
advance knowledge of the business and society
relationship. The research domain of IABS
covers business ethics, research on corporate
social responsibility and performance, emerging
social issues for business, environmental affairs,
and business and government relations.
IABS organizes annual conferences, which
generally meet both within and outside of North
America. International locations of confer-
ences have included Belgium, Austria, France,
Finland, Mexico, and the Netherlands. IABS
publishes a quarterly newsletter, which is posted
on its web page, and sponsors a premier journal,
Business and Society, a peer-reviewed scholarly
journal devoted to research, discussion, and
analysis of the relationship between business
and society. The web page for IABS may be
found at http://www.iabs.net/.
INTERNATIONAL SOCIETY OF BUSINESS,
ECONOMICS, AND ETHICS (ISBEE)
ISBEE is a worldwide professional association
that focuses exclusively on the study of business,
economics, and ethics. ISBEE’s professional
orientation involves people not only in academe
but also those with practical competencies in
2 societies for business ethics
responsible management positions. Membership
also includes entrepreneurs of medium-sized
and small companies. ISBEE is strongly interna-
tional in character, with members from around
the world.
ISBEE developed in response to a sensed
need to bring together individuals in tradi-
tionally distinct fields – economics, business,
law, and philosophy – and from different prac-
tical areas – human resource management,
finance, social and environmental concerns, and
marketing. The mission of ISBEE is to provide a
forum for the exchange of experiences and ideas;
enhance cooperation in cross-functional and
cross-cultural projects; and discuss the ethical
dimension of economic, social, and environ-
mental issues that affect companies nationally
and globally. The organization supports a cross-
disciplinary approach with the participation of
both academicians and practitioners. It sched-
ules its conferences and programs to encourage
both formal and informal sharing of ideas and
projects.
A culminating event of ISBEE’s activi-
ties is the World Congress of Business,
Economics, and Ethics, held every 4 years. Past
congresses have taken place in Japan, Brazil, and
Australia. ISBEE’s web page can be found at
http://www.globethics.net/web/guest/about-
isbee/.
EUROPEAN BUSINESS ETHICS NETWORK
(EBEN)
Founded in 1987, EBEN is a cross-national
network dedicated wholly to the promotion of
business ethics, broadly defined, in academia,
business, public sector, and civil society. EBEN
is a not-for-profit association. EBEN members
include academics, business people, consultants,
public managers, and students. EBEN’s mission
is to promote ethics and excellence in businesses,
increase awareness about ethical challenges in
the global marketplace, and enable dialog on the
role of business in society.
The members of EBEN are concerned
with promoting business ethics education and
training as well as improving practices. EBEN
is recognized on the world stage as representing
European views on business ethics. EBEN
network members include academics, practi-
tioners, and representatives from NGOs and
the public sector. The diversity of member-
ship of EBEN (from over 42 countries) means
that there are many varied views within the
group about business ethics. EBEN is an
inclusive network and accepts this plurality
of perspectives. EBEN supports initiatives at
cross-European, national, and regional levels.
National networks of EBEN are established
or developing in 17 countries. Among these
are networks in Germany, Spain, the United
Kingdom, the Netherlands, France, the Czech
Republic, and Poland. There are active groups
in a number of other countries and always the
possibility of forming more established national
EBEN networks. The web page for EBEN can
be found at http://www.eben-net.org/.
SOCIAL ISSUES IN MANAGEMENT DIVISION,
ACADEMY OF MANAGEMENT (SIM)
The Academy of Management, founded in 1936,
is the oldest and largest organization of manage-
ment scholars in the world. The SIM Division is
one of the academy’s original divisions, created
in 1971. The domain of SIM encompasses
the exploration and analysis of various envi-
ronmental and stakeholder influences on the
organization and the organization’s effect on
these groups. The SIM domain includes
• the social environment: topics such as
corporate social responsibility, corporate
philanthropy, stakeholder management, and
corporate social performance
• the ethical environment: topics such as
corporate codes of ethics, corporate crime,
individual ethical behavior, the influence
of the organization on ethical conduct,
ethical implications of technology, and the
assessment of personal values and corporate
culture
• the public policy environment
• the ecological environment
• the stakeholder environment
• the international environment.
Each year, SIM holds its annual meeting in
conjunction with the Academy of Management.
Each meeting provides the opportunity for

the presentation and discussion of scholarly
papers addressing business ethics and other
domain-related topics. Research on business
ethics is published in the Academy of Manage-
ment’s major journals: Academy of Management
Journal, Academy of Management Review,
Academy of Management Perspectives, and
Academy of Management Learning and Education.
The academy also publishes The Academy of
Management Annals and a Best Papers Proceed-
ings for each annual meeting. The web site for
SIM is http://sim.aomonline.org/.
ASSOCIATION FOR PRACTICAL AND
PROFESSIONAL ETHICS (APPE)
APPE was founded in 1991 with support from
Indiana University and the Lilly Endowment.
Its purpose was to encourage interdisciplinary
scholarship and high-quality teaching in profes-
sional and practical ethics by educators and
professionals who appreciate both the theoretical
and practical aspects of their subjects.
Ethics centers have proliferated over the past
several decades, as have media stories reflecting
heightened concern over the ethical behavior
of organizations, politicians, and professionals.
Colleges and universities have been redesigning
their curricula to address concerns about
educating for civic and professional respon-
sibility. These trends accentuate a growing
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societies for business ethics 3
conviction that the need has never been more
imperative for practical ethical discourse in
professional and civic life.
APPE sponsors a newsletter, Ethically
Speaking, and supports the following publica-
tions: Oxford University Press Series in Profes-
sional and Practical Ethics and Research Ethics:
Cases and Commentaries, Volumes 1–7. APPE’s
web site is http://www.indiana.edu/∼appe/.
ACADEMY OF BUSINESS IN SOCIETY (EABIS)
EABIS is one of the most recent societies to
form, which is interested in business ethics.
EABIS was founded in 2001 and launched at
INSEAD in 2002. It has been supported by
leading business schools in Europe along with
major corporations such as IBM, Microsoft,
Johnson & Johnson, Unilever, and Shell. EABIS
provides thought leadership in four domains,
including purpose and ethics. Its membership
is primarily institutional. EABIS’s web site is
http://www.eabis.org/home.html.
Societies for business ethics serve an impor-
tant need in promoting research and studious
inquiry into the nature and application of busi-
ness ethics theory and practice. There are other
such societies and dozens of business ethics
centers, but the seven major societies discussed
earlier provide a core foundation for further
exploration into the topic.