Since the turn of the 21st century there has been an awakened interest in business ethics, an interest which accelerated after the financial crash of 2008.
Ethical approaches to business are important for promoting the common good, for promoting employee wellbeing and, arguably, for business success. Researchers at St Mary's are examining the importance of virtue ethics within business. They are examining whether and how an ethical approach to business might conflict with profit maximisation in the short and the long run.
In addition, members of this cluster are researching the role of business ethics in Catholic social teaching as well as the interface between ethics, professionalism and regulation. The Catholic Church supports an important role for business in society, as do most other denominations and religious faiths. Regardless of one’s creed, business is such an important part of economic and social life that it ought to be practised ethically.
Research in this area informs a number of taught courses, especially the BA in Business Management with Business Ethics, but also a number of specific modules, such as those on marketing, in both undergraduate and postgraduate degrees.
Members of the cluster regularly present at international conferences and events, such as Happiness, Economics, and International Relations (HEIRs), Developments in Economics Education (DEE), the American Economics Association (AEA), the Royal Economic Society (RES), the European Business Ethics Network (EBEN) and the Portuguese Political Science Association (APCP).
The school welcomes PhD proposals in the area of business ethics.
PhD students
All research degree students at St Mary’s are part of the Doctoral College.
Current Projects
- The interaction between profit-maximizing firms and firms with social missions competing in the same market
- Microfinance
- Catholic social teaching and business
- Responsible Research and Innovation (RRI) and Open Science (OS)
- Price controls and market economies
- Business ethics and journalism
Ongoing Projects
Prof. Sanders is Co-editor of the Routledge Handbook of Journalism and Ethics and its introduction, and author of the opening chapter "Why ethics still matters".
Dr Andre' Azevado Alves is one of the senior researchers in the international research project Beliefs, Values and Worldviews at Work along with Maria Power (Blackfriars, Oxford) and Christopher Baker (project leader, Goldsmiths, University of London). The project has been awarded a British Academy Grant.
Dr André Azevedo Alves is a member of the Working Group on responses to COVID-19 within SACRU (Strategic Alliance of Catholic Research Universities).
Dr Gherardo Girardi is an external senior advisors in Economy of Francesco, a working group bringing together 2,000 young economists and entrepreneurs from all over the world to respond to the cry of the poor and of the Earth, as described in Pope Francis's letter Laudato Si'.
Dr Gherardo Girardi is a senior researcher in an international project to study the most effective ways of promoting the common good in economics and business studies. Other universities taking part are the Norwegian School of Economics, the University of Urbino in Italy, Corvinus University in Hungary and the University of Utah in the US.
Public talks, workshops and teaching
- Booth, PM, The principles of Catholic social teaching in everyday life - London Oratory Young Adults Group, January 2023
- Booth, PM, The role and limitations of international governance - conference on Catholic social teaching and international governance November 2022
- Booth, PM, Government debt – should Catholics care? - Oxford University Catholic Society, February 2023
- Booth, PM, Catholic social teaching and trades unions - Pastoral Review debate series, January 2023
- Girardi, GG, Do universities courses place too much emphasis on profit maximization and not on enough on ethics? ISBEE, July 2022, Bilbao, with Chandres Tejura (QMUL)
- Paper presented by Dr Roland Daw on A Ricoeurian Perspective on Accountability in Social Enterprises, at ISIRC in August 2020.
- Talk by Gherardo Girardi on Economy of Francesco and the Response of Economy of Communion Companies to Covid19, at the conference “Social navigators: businesses that change the world” by the Ukrainian Social Academy
- Presentation of paper by Philip Booth on Business Ethics, Financial Regulation and Catholic Social Teaching, at "Fondazione Centesimus Annus Pro Pontifice" in January 2019 (contributing to the Dublin Process)
- Dr Gherardo Girardi, Dr Elisabetta Canetta and Prof Peter Tyler have delivered a series of workshops on how business economics, physics and psychology can be taught consistently with Catholic Social thought, in preparation for the launch of a new module called An Interdisciplinary Encounter with the Sacred at St Mary's.
- Andre Alves and Philip Booth have been bringing their business ethics work into teaching programmes on the Diaconate Formation programme, the Certificate in Catholic Social Teaching taken by the Bishops' Conference of England and Wales interns and the MA in Catholic Social Teaching at St. Mary's.
- Philip Booth has given a number or presentations to seminarians at one of the Pontifical Academies in Rome on globalisation and business ethics. The business ethics component of the Masters in International Business Management and related courses has been remodelled to incorporate a significant virtue ethics aspect based on the research of Philip Booth and Andre Alves.
- Talk by Gherardo Girardi on "Teaching and learning economics in accordance with Catholic Social Thought", November 2019, at the Festival of Catholic Social Teaching, Verona (Italy)
- Lecture by Gherardo Girardi on "The university of the common good", May 2019, at Spirituality in Society and the Professions, Waterford (Ireland)
Think tank at Anglo American PLC on the role of business leaders in promoting integral human development
On July 3rd, 2018, a think tank was held at Anglo American PLC headquarters near Trafalgar Square in London, bringing together business, academic and religious leaders to discuss how their energies can best be combined to promote integral human development. Read more...
We were delighted to receive a video message of encouragement from Cardinal Turkson, Prefect of the Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development.
- Lecture for PhD students and academics by Philip Booth on “How the Financial System Works”, September 2018, Pontifical Regina Athenaeum Apostolorum, Rome
- Workshop by Gherardo Girardi on "Modelling competition between profit maximizing and socially motivated enterprises", May 2018, University of St Mary's
- Public talk by Felix Pole on "The Economic and Social Impact of Mining - a Zambian case study", April 2018, University of St Mary's
Selected publications
Girardi, G, The Common Good University: The Search for an Alternative Path for Business School Education, forthcoming book chapter in Palgrave’s Place Based Approaches to Sustainability Volume II - Business, Economic, and Social Models, with Knut Ims (Norwegian School of Economics), Mara del Baldo (University of Urbino, Italy), Tamas Veress (Corvinus University, Budapest) and Hayden Hubbard (University of Utah)
Booth, Philip Mark (2023) Catholic and inclusive – English Catholic universities. Educatio Catholica. (In Press)
Booth, Philip Mark and Alves, André Azevedo (2022) Virtues, Vices and the Responsibilities of Business: An Application of Catholic Social Teaching to the Problems of Corruption and Lobbying. Religions, 13 (11).
Booth, P.M., 2020, Ethics in Economics: Lessons and Themes for Further Development from Oeconomicae et pecuniariae quastiones, Journal of Catholic Social Thought, summer
Booth, P.M., 2020 (with Matias Petersen, University of the Andew) Catholic social teaching and Hayek's critique of social justice, Logos: A Journal of Catholic Thought and Culture
Booth, P.M., 2020, A Catholic Understanding of Economics - Economics without Boundaries, in 'Reclaiming the Piazza' (edited by Leonardo Franchi)
Girardi, G., forthcoming, L'amore per Dio e per il prossimo: ripensando l'insegnamento dell'economia (Love of God and love of neighbour: rethinking economics education), Agora, 3 (September 2020)
Libertà, fraternità e fallimenti di mercato (liberty, universal brotherhood and market failures), 2019, La Società, April,5/6
Booth, P.M., 2018, Capitalism and social co-operation, Crucible - The Journal of Christian Social Ethics, Jan., pp. 30-39.
Booth, P.M., 2018, Globalisation, poverty and the responsibility of business, The Newman, 104.
Booth, P.M. and Peterson, M., 2018, Social justice, the role of business and the common good, in: Building Institutions for the Common Good - The Purpose and Practice of Business in an Inclusive Economy June 21-23, 2018 Schulze Hall, University of St. Thomas Minneapolis Campus, 21st-23rd June, USA. (Unpublished).
Girardi G., 2017, Escaping the economist’s straightjacket: overcoming the free-rider mentality which prevents climate change from being effectively addressed, book chapter in Leal, W. (ed) Climate Change Management, special edition on Universities and Climate Change: the Role of Higher Education Institutions in Addressing the Mitigation and Adaptation Challenges", Springer.
Girardi G. and Sandoná, L., 2017, Incorporating research findings in the economics syllabus: evidence on genuine sociality from Italy and the UK, Review of Social Economy.
Booth P. M., 2017, Is the State the Solution to Individualism? An analysis from Catholic social teaching, in Wood B. (ed), Renewing the Self: Religious Perspectives on Individuals and Communities, Cambridge Scholars Publishing, Newcastle, UK.
Alves, A.A., Booth, P. and Fryzel, B., 2017, Business Culture and Corporate Social Responsibility: An Analysis in the Light of Catholic Social Teaching with an Application to Whistle-Blowing, Heythrop Journal (available online, forthcoming in print).
Alves A. A., Booth P. M. and Fryzel B., 2017, Business Culture and Corporate Social Responsibility: an Analysis in the Light of Catholic Social Teaching with an Application to Whistle Blowing, Heythrop Journal.
Booth, P. M., 2017, Property Rights and Conservation - the missing theme of Laudato si'. Independent Review, 21 (3). pp. 1-20.
Alves, A.A. and Moreira, P.G., 2016, Scarcity, Economics and Morality: the Contribution of the Late Iberian Scholastics, book chapter in E Leontjeva, E., Vaine, A., and Vysniauskaite, M. (eds.) The Phenomenon of Scarcity: Being, Man and Society, Lithuanian Free Market Institute and Lithuanian Culture Research Institute, 184-199.
Booth, P. M. and Davies, S., 2016, Rules and Order without the State, in: Palmer, Tom, (ed.) Self-Control or State Control - you decide. Jameson Books, Washington DC, pp. 78-99.
Booth, P. M. (ed), 2016, Dottrina sociale cattolica ed economia di mercato (Catholic social teaching and the market economy - Italian edition). liberlibri, Milano, Italia, ISBN 978-88-98094-29-5.
Girardi, G. and Tejura C., 2015, CSR and accounting education in developing countries: the case of India, 2015, book chapter in Jamali,D., Karam,C. and Blowfield, M. (ed’s ), CSR in Developing Countries: Towards a Development-Oriented Approach, Greenleaf Publishing.
Booth P. M. and Davies S., 2015, Price Ceilings in Financial Markets, in Coyne C. and Coyne R. Price Controls and the Damage they Cause, Hobart Paperback 179, Institute of Economic Affairs, London, UK.
Girardi, G. and Petito F., 2014, Post secular reflections on the value of the stakeholder approach in business, Global Initiative for the Common Good Journal, 1(1)
Booth P. M. (ed.), 2014, Catholic Social Teaching and the Market Economy, 2nd edition, London, UK: St. Paul's, ISBN 978-0-85439-837-9 (also published in Slovene)
Alves, A.A. and Meadowcroft, J., 2014, Hayek’s Slippery Slope, the Stability of the Mixed Economy and the Dynamics of Rent-Seeking, Political Studies, 62 (4), 843–861.
Alves, A.A. and Moreira, J. M., 2013, Virtue and Commerce in Domingo de Soto's Thought: Commercial Practices, Character and the Common Good, The Journal of Business Ethics, 113 (4), 627-638.
Alves, A.A. and Moreira, J. M., 2013, Business Ethics in the School of Salamanca, book chapter in Luetge, C. (ed.) Handbook of the Philosophical Foundations of Business Ethics, Springer, 207-225.
Alves, A.A. and Moreira, J. M., 2010, The Salamanca School, 2013, New York/London: Bloomsbury (1st edition Continuum).
Booth P. M., 2012, The crash of 2008: a discussion of its causes and their relationship to ethical issues, in Samuel Gregg and Harold James (ed.), Natural Law, Economics and the Common Good, Imprint Academic, p.227-243.
Booth P. M. (ed.), 2010, Christian Perspectives on the Financial Crash, London: St Pauls, ISBN 9780854397679
Girardi, G., 2010, Transformative Economics Education: using proverbs from around the world in the classroom, Investigations in University Teaching and Learning, 6(2), 119-124
Booth P. M., 2010, Ethical Dilemmas for Large Corporations in Under-developed Countries, in Barbara Fyzel and Paul Dembinski (ed.), The Role of Large Enterprises in Democracy and Society, UK: Macmillan, ISBN 9780230229181
Booth P. M., 2010, The Crash of 2008 - A Discussion of the Causes and Relationship with Ethical Issues, Finance et Bien Commun (Finance and the Common Good), 36(1), p.39-53
Booth P. M., 2009, Learning from the crash, and teaching after it, in Samuel Gregg and James Stoner (ed.), Profit, Prudence and Virtue: essays in ethics and business management, UK and US: Imprint Academic, ISBN 978184540159753490
Booth P. M., 2008, Modern Business and its Moral and Ethical Dilemmas in a Globalized World, in Ian Harper and Samuel Gregg (ed.), Christian Theology and Market Economics, UK: Edward Elgar, p.129-145, ISBN 9781847203779