Ethics Events and Conditions of Possibility: How Sell-Side Financial Analysts Became Involved in Corporate Governance

Business Ethics Quarterly, Forthcoming

55 Pages Posted: 29 Apr 2020

See all articles by Zhiyuan Simon Tan

Zhiyuan Simon Tan

The University of Sydney Business School

Date Written: March 12, 2020

Abstract

Mobilizing Foucault’s genealogy, this article investigates how an “ethics event,” that is, the involvement by some sell-side financial analysts in the US and UK across the past two decades in corporate governance, emerged. It is found that the complex relations formed between specific historical precedents, normative discourses, and fields of power rendered certain issues in financial markets morally problematic and constructed analysts’ corporate governance work as a potential solution. Contributing towards finance ethics research, this article develops a novel perspective to conceptualize the rise of ethically relevant practices in financial markets, focusing on how ethical problems and their solutions are outcomes of discursive construction and power relations. This article also revises our understanding of the boundary between technical norms and moral norms in financial markets. When ethical crises occur, it is argued, transforming technical practices and revising the technical norms adopted by financial professionals has potential for tackling ethical concerns.

Keywords: ethics events, Foucault’s genealogy, finance ethics, sell-side financial analysts, corporate governance

JEL Classification: G24, G34, M4

Suggested Citation

Tan, Simon, Ethics Events and Conditions of Possibility: How Sell-Side Financial Analysts Became Involved in Corporate Governance (March 12, 2020). Business Ethics Quarterly, Forthcoming, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3568839 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.3568839

Simon Tan (Contact Author)

The University of Sydney Business School ( email )

Codrington Building, 21-23 Codrington Street
Darlington
Sydney, NSW 2006
Australia

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