Non (solo) per profitto: ripensare la business ethics alla luce della DSC

ABSTRACT: (NOT (ONLY) FOR PROFIT: RETHINKING BUSINESS ETHICS IN THE LIGHT OF SOCIAL DOCTRINE OF THE CHURCH) The existence of so-called “hybrid organizations” has drawn the attention of scholars researching on management, organizational studies and, business ethics. The novelty of these organizations remarks the fragile boundaries between the “for-profit” and the “nonprofit”. These phenomena call the usefulness of the for-profit/nonprofit taxonomy into question and evidence the need of rethinking its scope. In this article, we propose that the for-profit/nonprofit distinction is based on a false dichotomy and shows some evident limits, due to its unidimensionality and to the central role given to the notion of profit to determinate the ontology of organizations. Moreover, organizations that felt out of the dichotomy are facing several challenges as, for example, finding the right juridical form, convincing investors and/or sponsors, identifying employees with adequate skills, etc. Therefore, the dichotomous approach toward organizations has several consequences on the studies of business ethics. This article adopts a theoretical approach to enlight the contribution of Social Doctrine of the Church to develop business ethics; in particular, the article aims to overcome the for-profit/nonprofit dichotomy, taking into consideration the insights of the Social Doctrine of the Church and, in particular, of Pope Benedict XVI’s Encyclical Letter Caritas in Veritate, which encourages to reconsider the paradigms used to explain organizations taxonomy and their nature. Methodologically, we first offer a literature review on the definition of new forms of organizations e.g. hybrid organizations, social enterprises, value-based organizations, mission-driven organizations, etc. Then, we adopt an interdisciplinary approach to enrich the dialogue between social sciences and the Social Doctrine of the Church, and to better understand both the contribution of Caritas in Veritate to management and the ontology of organizations. Finally, our analysis focuses on business ethics, taking in consideration a four levels-framework proposed by Melé (2012a): individual, managerial, organizational and societal. As a result, we suggest the need of a new logical category to overcome the for-profit/nonprofit dichotomy and develop the idea of metaprofit to enlarge the discussion on business ethics. The idea of metaprofit shifts the attention from profit as a main determinant of organizational identity toward other ends, reached by means of the profit but situated beyond profit. The originality of this contribution resides on both an interdisciplinary methodological approach used to discuss organizational forms, and the development of the idea of metaprofit – based on a business ethics analysis – aimed to overtake dominant dichotomous thinking.

KEYWORDS: business ethics, organizational purpose, Social Doctrine of the Church.