Christian Voegtlin

• PhD
• ZHAW Zurich University of Applied Sciences

Despite the growing research, teaching, and training efforts to improve ethical behaviors in organizations, instances of misconduct and corruption are still daily news. Limitations in the current way we teach and train about ethical situations are known. One of the main challenges is using theoretical or scenario-based training, where people may ac...

Addressing Grand Societal Challenges (GSC) requires that public, private, and non-profit actors join forces for analyzing problems and developing innovative solutions in multi-actor, multi-level collaborations. Responsible Innovation (RI) is a framework that aims to develop innovations that (1) do not harm and (2) do good to people and planet throu...

Multinational corporations (MNCs) assume political responsibilities by contributing to national and global governance, influencing their legal and moral environments, and addressing sustainability issues. Scholars have developed various frameworks, most prominently corporate political activity (CPA), corporate citizenship (CC), political corporate...

How does the grand challenge of refugees influence nascent entrepreneurs in host countries? To explore this question, we build on social identity theory and analyse how the 2015 European refugee event is related to the strength of different founder social identities (i.e. Darwinian, Communitarian, and Missionary founder social identities) of nascen...

Deliberation has faced criticism with regard to its application to business, on the basis that it can be misused to disseminate an ideology, divert attention from genuine debates, or strengthen the power of certain people. We suggest that Aristotle’s notion of deliberation can mitigate these ethical risks and help companies strengthen their deliber...

Discourse ethics is an ethical philosophy based on communicative action and reason. It has gained prominence through the works of the German philosopher Jürgen Habermas, among others, and stands in the tradition of the cognitivist-rational ethics, established by Immanuel Kant. However, in contrast to the Kantian philosophy, it does not derive the v...

Social entrepreneurship has emerged as an important means of addressing grand challenges. Although research on the topic has accelerated, scholars have yet to articulate an overarching framework that links the different pathways taken by social entrepreneurs with the positive effects of these efforts. To address this shortcoming, we conducted a sys...

Inconsistent information between an organization’s corporate social responsibility (CSR) commitments and perceived CSR (in-)action is a big challenge for organizations because this is typically associated with perceptions of corporate hypocrisy and related negative stakeholder reactions. However, in contrast to the prevailing corporate hypocrisy li...

Business & Society Special Issue Call for Papers "Responsible Leadership Action for Business and Society: Addressing the Grand Societal Challenges of Our Time" The goal of our SI is to align leadership studies with a business and society perspective considering the grand societal challenges of our time. It seeks to (1) revisit the study of leader...

Grand societal challenges (GSCs) represent complex, multi‐level, multi‐dimensional problems that require concerted efforts by various actors – public, private, and nonprofit – to be successfully addressed. Businesses – alone or in conjunction with governmental and nonprofit organizations – are relevant actors in this regard, as they represent a sou...

How are social entrepreneurs different from commercial entrepreneurs? This study sheds light on this issue by applying the perspective of entrepreneurial cognition and by arguing that social entrepreneurs are even more susceptible to cognitive biases than commercial entrepreneurs. The empirical study of 205 Swiss entrepreneurs could confirm that so...

This article develops theory on responsible leadership based on a model involving three leadership roles: an expert who displays organizational expertise, a facilitator who cares for and motivates employees and a citizen who considers the consequences of her or his decisions for society. It draws on previous responsible leadership research, stakeho...

The purpose of this chapter is to highlight links between the research fields of responsible leadership and responsible innovation and to point out the influence pathways through which responsible leadership can drive responsible innovation. It will reflect on areas related to responsible innovation where responsible leadership might be especially...

The grand challenges that humanity faces—poverty, inequality, hunger, conflict, climate change, deforestation, pandemic, among others—hinder the progress of sustainable development. These issues can be addressed only by fundamental changes in behavior, as well as in the modes and processes of production and of business more generally. In this paper...

Corporate social responsibility (henceforth, CSR) continues to grow as a topic of interest in academia, business, and government. This handbook reflects recent developments in the field, incorporating new psychological and organizational perspectives on this important, interdisciplinary topic. Highlights of the handbook include chapters by leading...

The chapter examines to what extent research from social cognitive neuroscience can inform ethical leadership. We evaluate the contribution of brain research to the understanding of ethical leaders as moral persons as well the understanding of their role as moral managers. The areas of social cognitive neuroscience that mirror these two aspects of...

The transition from modern to postmodern society leads to changing expectations about the purpose and responsibility of leadership. Habermas’s social theory provides a useful analytical tool for understanding current societal transition processes and exploring their implications for the responsibility of business vis-à-vis society. We argue that in...

Recent advances in cognitive neuroscience research portend well for furthering understanding of many of the fundamental questions in the field of business ethics, both normative and empirical. This article provides an overview of neuroscience methodology and brain structures, and explores the areas in which neuroscience research has contributed fin...

Earth’s life support system is facing megaproblems of sustainability. One important way of how these problems can be addressed is through innovation. This paper argues that responsible innovation that contributes to sustainable development consists of three dimensions: (1) innovations avoid harming people and the planet, (2) innovations ‘do good’ b...

This paper extends research on ethical leadership by proposing a responsibility orientation for leaders. Responsible leadership is based on the concept of leaders who are not isolated from the environment, who critically evaluate prevailing norms, are forward looking, share responsibility, and aim to solve problems collectively. Adding such a respo...

In this article we pursue two objectives. First, we refine the concept of responsible leadership from an upper echelon perspective by exploring two distinct styles (instrumental and integrative) and thereby further developing the understanding of the newly emerging integrative style. Second, we propose a framework that examines the micro-foundation...

Despite a significant increase in research and practise linking corporate social responsibility (CSR) and human resource management (HRM), a comprehensive examination of the relationship between these two constructs has yet to be undertaken. Scholars associating CSR and HRM rarely explicate their understanding of the connection between CSR and HRM...

Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to examine, theoretically and empirically, whether an employee training program can enhance the collective perception of empowerment of work units within an organization. The authors hypothesized that training participation relates to empowerment by enhancing the potency, meaningfulness, impact, and autonomy o...

This paper extends research on ethical leadership by proposing a responsibility orientation for leaders. Responsible leadership is based on the concept of leaders who are not isolated from the environment, who critically evaluate prevailing norms, are forward-looking, share responsibility, and aim to solve problems collectively. Adding such a respo...

There is growing pressure on business leaders to assume social and political responsibilities beyond the rule of law. In this article we explore the role of leaders, more specifically that of CEOs, in shaping political CSR, addressing two prevailing limitations of political CSR research: First, current approaches to political CSR focus predominantl...

Taking governance as the ways in which societies make decisions and share power, this symposium proposes to discuss the opening or emerging governance structures at levels ranging from corporate to state to global or earth system governance. Global governance thought leader and author of the innovative King III report in South Africa which mandates...

Statement of organizers: We have received email statements from all intended participants agreeing to participate in the entire symposium, and stating that they are not in violation of the Rule of Three + Three.

The article discusses the role of the UN Global Compact (UNGC) in the emerging global CSR infrastructure. It evaluates the debate around the effectiveness and legitimacy of the UNGC alongside the arguments of its supporters and critics and thereby introduces the Thematic Symposium contributions. The article further identifies three theoretical pers...

This paper extends ethical leadership research by proposing a responsibility orientation for leaders. Responsible leadership is based on consideration of leaders as not isolated from the environment, as critically evaluating prevailing norms, as forward-looking, as sharing responsibility, and as aiming for collective problem solving. I show how add...

Despite increasing focus on research and practice linking CSR and HRM (CSR-HRM), a comprehensive examination of the relationship between these two constructs is yet to be undertaken. Depictions of CSR-HRM in extant literature tend to fall into two broad categories: CSR enacted though HRM (HRM practices used to involve employees in the implementatio...

Globally responsible leadership is conceived as the normatively appropriate conduct of business leaders in response to the ethical challenges that multinational corporations have to deal with in the context of their global business operations. The paper argues that existing approaches to responsible leadership research neglect the ethical implicati...

The article links leadership and legitimacy in globalizing business. It forwards a framework for analyzing how actors in organizations may build and maintain organizational legitimacy through different strategies. The discussion connects strategies for legitimizing organizational conduct across levels of analysis, highlighting the role of leadershi...

Ten years ago UN-Secretary-General Kofi Annan called upon global business leaders to join the fight against human rights violations, inhumane working conditions, the rising threat of pollution and the spreading problem of corruption thereby proposing the Global Compact Initiative as a mean to foster sustainable and socially responsible business pra...

The article advances an understanding of responsible leadership in global business and offers an agenda for future research in this field. Our conceptualization of responsible leadership draws on deliberative practices and discursive conflict resolution, combining the macro-view of the business firm as a political actor with the micro-view of leade...

This paper is concerned with the concept of global responsible leadership. Responsible leadership is conceived of as normatively appropriate conduct in the pursuit of the corporations’ goals and addresses the ethical challenges of nowadays’ leaders in the light of global transformation processes and the emerging post-national constellation. The pap...

The process of globalization changes the conditions for multinational corporations (MNCs) operating in different locations with heterogeneous legal conditions and social or cultural norms. The paper analyzes some of the implications of globalization for the human resource management (HRM) of MNCs. These challenges manifest themselves in issues HRM...

The paper advances the conceptual understanding of responsible leadership and develops an empirical scale of discursive responsible leadership. The concept of responsible leadership presented here draws on deliberative practices and discursive conflict resolution, combining the macro-view of the business firm as a political actor with the micro-vie...

Die experimentelle Wirtschaftsforschung ist längst nicht mehr nur auf den Rückgriff abstrakter spieltheoretischer Modelle beschränkt. Neue methodische Möglichkeiten und Erkenntnisse erhofft man sich aus der Neurowissenschaft, die zugleich auch Namenspatron der neuesten interdisziplinären Forschungssymbiose aus Neurowissenschaft und Ökonomie ist: Ne...

Nicht erst seit der Finanzkrise ist die Verantwortung von Managern und Führungskräften in Unternehmen ein intensiv diskutiertes Thema in öffentlichen Debatten. Gerade im Zuge einer fortschreitenden Globalisierung sehen sich Führungskräfte mit neuen Herausforderungen konfrontiert. Sie müssen versuchen, dem steigenden ökonomischen Druck des weltweite...

The article examines to what extent research from social cognitive neuroscience can inform ethical leadership. We evaluate the contribution of brain research to the understanding of ethical leaders as moral persons as well the understanding of their role as moral managers. The areas of social cognitive neuroscience that mirror these two aspects of...

The paper advances an understanding of responsible leadership as a political conception and offers an agenda for future research in this field. Our conceptualization of responsible leadership draws on deliberative practices and discursive conflict resolution, combining the macro-view of the business firm as a political actor with the micro-view of...