Business Ethics Networks

Business ethics networks are groups of persons who assemble because of their interest in business ethics. Networks range from in-person groups based on geography to virtual clubs on the Internet, from informal gatherings to legally chartered organizations, and from professional associations that restrict membership to fully open “get-togethers.” This entry focuses primarily on modern, face-to-face, open networks that welcome most or all persons interested in business ethics.

Individuals interested in business ethics have been gathering for hundreds of years, but individual stakeholder groups often kept only to themselves. Since 1900, for example, scholars created university-based ethics centers (e.g., the Center for Business Ethics at Bentley University, founded in 1976) and professional associations (Tom Donaldson invited Richard T. De George in 1978 to create the Society for ...