The intergenerational responsibility of organizations

Coraiola, Diego m. and Pereira, Jussara (2025) The intergenerational responsibility of organizations. In, The Routledge Companion to Responsible Business. Routledge, pp. 34-47. (doi:10.4324/9781003373162-3).

Record type: Book Section

Abstract

We advance a new approach focused on the intergenerational reciprocity of corporate action. Our perspective differs from existing perspectives on social responsibility and irresponsibility in three major aspects. First, we argue that instead of a sharp divide between historical and contemporary (ir)responsibility events, greater attention should be given to intergenerational processes connecting past, present, and future. Second, we urge scholars to look beyond focal organizations and how they engage in wrongdoing and prosocial behaviours to observe networks of organizations and their sustained involvement with stakeholder communities. Third, we call for the recognition of intergenerational ethics that adopt the perspective of stakeholder communities and acknowledge that corporations are responsible not only for what they did and left undone but also for how they engage with the past in the present. Several possibilities for future research ensue, including a deeper exploration of the intergenerational dynamics of blaming and corporate accountability across time.

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