The Moral Duty to Love Your Stakeholders

27 Pages Posted: 3 Apr 2020

See all articles by Muel Kaptein

Muel Kaptein

Erasmus University Rotterdam (EUR) - Rotterdam School of Management (RSM)

Date Written: March 12, 2020

Abstract

Much has been written about the general moral duty to love one’s neighbors. In this article, I explore a specific application of this moral duty: i.e., in the context of work. I argue from a secular perspective that individuals have the moral duty to love their stakeholders. Loving one’s stakeholders is an affective valuing of the stake-related values these stakeholders pursue and as such is the only real recognition of one’s stakeholders as stakeholders and oneself as a stakeholder of one’s stakeholders. This moral concept of stakeholder love has implications for stakeholder theory, leadership theories, and ethics theories in general and for business ethics theories in particular.

Keywords: love, neighborly love, agape, moral duty, stakeholder theory, stakeholder love

Suggested Citation

Kaptein, Muel, The Moral Duty to Love Your Stakeholders (March 12, 2020). Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3553381 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.3553381

Muel Kaptein (Contact Author)

Erasmus University Rotterdam (EUR) - Rotterdam School of Management (RSM) ( email )

P.O. Box 1738
Room T11-53
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