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The environmental, social and ecological impact of consumption are a recognised global challenge and further work is needed to understand how we can respond to this challenge. Some authors have explored the importance of embedding ethical consumption behaviours through social learning and norms (Hargreaves, 2011; Moraes et al., 2012) while others have considered the role of bodily experiences in triggering ethical consumption transformations (Carolan, 2007; Turner, 2011). Nonetheless, much of previous research focuses on those who self-identify as ethical consumers in isolated contexts like residential consumption communities or Community Supported Agriculture (CSA). Community gardens are often positioned as places of sustainability, community and bodily learning (Litt et al., 2015). To further explore the potential for social context and bodily experiences to trigger ethical consumption concerns, the aim of this thesis is twofold. Firstly, this study aims to understand the experiences of participation among those who do not self-identify as ethical consumers in community gardens. Secondly, this study explores whether participation in these communities intersects with individuals’ wider consumption lifestyles. This thesis uses a modes of identification framework in a small-scale longitudinal study to address the aims above. Data was collected using phenomenological and narrative interviews, diaries and observations with 13 participants. This study reveals that individuals do not develop ethical consumption concerns following their embodied and collective engagement in community gardens. Embodied participation, however, is shown to be an essential part of identification with the community. Moreover, community gardens have an important role in introducing individuals to new meanings and competencies of food which put into question their existing consumption behaviours. Individuals also acquire food growing competencies which can transfer beyond the community boundaries when access to facilities is available. Crucially, this study shows that individuals incorporate a range ethical consumption discourses and behaviours into their existing consumption narratives of health and wellbeing. This finding makes a significant contribution to ethical consumption research by uncovering a complementary identification between the consumption concerns of those who do not self-identify as ethical consumers and ethical consumption discourses. This indicates that there is an opportunity to encourage certain consumption behaviours that challenge mass consumption by harnessing the intersection between ethical consumption and consumption concerns for personal wellbeing.

This study considers how early career journalists, located in the British provincial press, learn occupational ethics in the workplace in the wake of the Leveson Inquiry into the Culture, Practices and Ethics of the Press. It draws on a review of literature about teaching and learning of journalism ethics in Britain, and also on interviews with early career journalists and those with responsibility for managing their training. It concludes that early career journalists learn ethics in the workplace from their Community of Practice and through exposure to formal and informal learning opportunities, but the nature of that learning is under-developed and informal influences on journalists' understanding of ethical conduct are not properly recognised. Formal learning is heavily influenced by a single training organisation, the National Council for Training Journalists, which has been slow to adequately address journalism ethics through its curriculum despite repeated government inquiries into press conduct, and although ethics was introduced as an explicit area for study following the conclusion of the Leveson Inquiry in 2012, it is predicated on the understanding of the Editors' Code of Practice and the regulatory framework which the British press aligns itself towards. This narrow interpretation of journalism ethics constrains early career journalists' understanding of wider ethical considerations through formal learning opportunities. Informal learning of journalism ethics is located through their participation in a Community of Practice where they gain a broader understanding of occupational ethics through legitimate participation in that community as they move from the periphery to full membership via their interactions with colleagues and also with the wider local community, where the desire to be trusted in the production of news shapes this understanding. The absence of formally facilitated reflective space where informal learning of journalism ethics could be identified as such and consolidated in the understanding of the learner means that the informal learning experiences are not recognised as such. As a result, early career journalists conflate occupational ethics with an observance of a regulatory code and do not fully recognise wider considerations as matters of journalism ethics.

The main aim of the research was to investigate legal ethics education in Hungary for the first time. Ethicists refer to the importance of the local cultural context and in Hungary, similar to other countries in the region, Communism and the transition to a market economy destabilised traditional ethics and has led to a society suffering low morale. Consequently, there is a need for ethics education in Hungary, including professional ethics. The academic literature identifies possible aims of professional ethics education, and many researchers recommend an integrated approach, continuing after qualification, to achieve these aims. This thesis reviewed the current legal ethics education practices in the most common tertiary, formal learning routes leading to become qualified lawyer, and also in the post-qualification stages in the USA, in England and Wales, and in Hungary, and contrasted them in a novel way, by using Rest's Four Component Model. Since the USA and England and Wales have extensive and complex systems in the field, a partial review of the academic and professional standards and the academic literature on legal ethics education practices was conducted for reasons of practicality. Concerning Hungary, legal ethics was not a compulsory required course at law schools until the accreditation standards changed in 2016, and very few academic sources were found with regard to the topic. In order to fill a gap in the literature, information only available in Hungarian on government, academic and professional websites was translated and analysed, along with data gathered by qualitative 'elite' interviews with representatives of the major stakeholders in Hungarian legal ethics education: policymakers, academia and the legal professions. This research found no tradition of, and no discourse about legal ethics education in Hungary, but a variety of solutions both at the pre-qualification and the post-qualification stages.

Over the last 30 years, a discourse surrounding ethics has emerged in the British military which has recently been defined as a corporate ethics in the form of Army Core Values. The emergence of, and connection between these codified, corporate ethics and soldiers’ values in everyday life and combat situations is poorly understood. This research will begin to shine a light on this relationship, taking the British Army’s infantry as its example. It will offer an historical overview of the emergence of a discourse of ethics, with particular attention paid to the tensions between an ethics of killing or violence and an ethics of restraint. It will argue that this embrace of ethics is closely tied-up with processes of state making through the legitimation of state violence, and war making through the legitimation and restraint of that violence by those that enact it. Through 22 semi-structured interviews and observations conducted with the cooperation of a British infantry company, it will explore how these Core Values are tied up with what Pierre Bourdieu calls ‘symbolic capital’, shaping and guiding combat conduct via a soldier’s specific place within their social relations and providing sources of moral legitimation, ex-ante and ex-post, for activity in the context of warfare. It will claim that, arising from this focus on values, we must look at the formal and informal social processes by which values come to be ‘adopted’ by junior soldiers, and subsequently contribute to shaping their ethical conduct in combat. It will argue that the army’s adoption of its corporate ethics relies on an underlying ethics of recognition. Additionally, through a focus on the intuitive and embodied habits that Bourdieu draws our attention to through concept of habitus, it will argue that ethical conduct in combat ought to be considered as much a form of skilful, practical coping, as it is a critical act of reflection.

BACKGROUND. Dementia is chronic, progressive and affects several brain functions, including memory, thinking, orientation, calculation, learning capacity, language and judgement. Usually the symptoms are accompanied by deterioration in emotional control, social behaviour or motivation. It affects 50 million people worldwide with 10 million new cases each year and presents as a collection or consequence of many illnesses, including Parkinson's disease, vascular dementia and Alzheimer's disease; it is a terminal disease. PURPOSE. The fear of living with dementia is driving requests for euthanasia but this is a complex issue because the symptoms of dementia clash with the due care criteria for euthanasia; unbearable suffering is difficult to assess in dementia and it is hard for a person living with dementia to consent to euthanasia at the point of death because of the decline in their cognitive functioning. This thesis explores if, and how, design can be used to stimulate conversation on euthanasia in dementia in the Netherlands. DESIGN. Prompts were designed on four topics extracted from a systematic literature review: Suffering, Autonomy, Timing and Planned Death. Three of these prompts were presented as speculative designs in the form of short films and one was a piece of information design, all were carefully constructed based on literature and expert advise to help formulate issues beyond abstract thought. DATA COLLECTION. Survey and interview data were collected using these designs with a carefully selected group of expert participants; people familiar with the Dutch practice of euthanasia and who had personal or professional experience with dementia. An opportunity to inform a wider public debate was offered with some of the designs being used at Pakhuis de Zwijger in Amsterdam on two occasions in the winter of 2018, and in round-table discussions at the Royal Dutch Medical Association in March 2019. RESULTS AND CONCLUSION. Design did further the conversation, the prompts were seen as useful thought experiments and helped participants to formulate their thoughts better. Dementia was still seen as fairly hopeless, but may improve with better professional care. Non-professional carers were seen to be unable to carry the burden of dementia care because this is causing a lot of other health related problems for the carers. Euthanasia could be improved by writing better advance euthansia directives and more detailed do not resuscitate agreements. It was concluded that physicians need much more support in initiating end-of-life conversations, in order to prepare families and their loved-ones for decision making for end-of-life scenarios.

In ethically-charged situations, such as End-of-Life circumstances, healthcare professionals may face identity conflict of moral nature due to incongruent values belonging to their multiple identities, e.g. professional and religious identities. Such conflict can significantly influence healthcare professionals' psychological outcomes, their practice and the overall quality of the healthcare service. However, despite these critical consequences, how identity conflict emerges, unfolds and affects doctors and nurses remains mostly unexplored. The overarching aim of this thesis is to advance the understanding of individual and socio-ethical dynamics of identity conflict. This aim is addressed through a mixed-method approach developed in three papers: a propositional paper, in which a narrative review is conducted; a qualitative paper, in which an inductive investigation based on semi-structured interviews is carried out; a quantitative paper, in which a mediated-moderation, multilevel analysis is run, implementing a two-time-lagged, questionnaire-based, design. This thesis extends the literature on identity conflict in four ways: (1) by conceptually integrating and explaining multiple individual and socio-ethical dynamics associated with identity conflict in a comprehensive and theoretically-justified model; (2) by providing an in-depth understanding of individual-level identity conflict dynamics, through the incorporation of novel ethical virtue-based decision-making approaches able to account for professional and religious values, emotions and interpersonal processes; (3) by exploring healthcare professionals' psychological and behavioural responses to identity conflict; (4) by sheding light on the extent to which individual and socio-ethical forces can affect identity conflict dynamics, thus filling a methodological gap in the identity literature regarding the implementation of multilevel approaches in identity research.

This is an inquiry about transgression of colonial discourse. My intimate encounter with the ongoing ecological destruction of the world fills me with grief and shapes my perspective. This grief is made invisible in our lives and business through hegemonic discourses that marginalises ecological integrity and sustainability. As a sustainability practitioner of an apparel manufacturing company, I occupy a discursively constructed margin. How do I bring about meaningful change that preserves the key life sustaining processes that honour earth as a living system within such a context? I claim resistance and transgression, play critical and strategic roles in the praxis of those who occupy such colonised spaces and attempting to transform the same. I explore transgression as a mode of practice that opens windows of opportunity to broaden the discursive boundaries to enable new modes of action and relationships. I explore how transgression becomes performative; and in my praxis exists in a wider spectrum of activities including collaboration, coalition building, advocacy and expertise, that gives it a unique sense of power and agency. I explore trickster as an embodied and performative form of transgression, and locate it within the larger body of practices and explore her influence in shifting discourse. I describe a complex practice that employs these methods and others to challenge the normalizing effects of power and attempt to build a more sustainable world through action and shifting of discourse. It is also a risky and unsafe territory where self-care has little meaning. I look beyond traditional and sanitised accounts of change, to narrate a deeply conflicted, contradictory, political and complex account of a change agent, as an offer for resonance. I explore historical, cultural and colonial constructs that sit at the foundation of the research process, specifically action research. Moving beyond deconstruction of method, I offer a different way to approach method in action research, that would support radical activism based out of a performative mode. I also explore what it is to be writing from outside to an academy with its Eurocentric structures.

This study explores whether MacIntyrean virtue ethics concepts are applicable in non- Western business contexts, specifically in SMEs in Taiwan, a country strongly influenced by the Confucian tradition. Based on case study research, the findings support the generalisability of the MacIntyrean framework to both a Confucian context and to small firms. The study also explores similarities and differences existing between different polities in this respect, and specifically interprets observed differences between the Taiwanese study and previous studies conducted in Europe and Asia. Drawing on the institutional logics perspective and combining this with MacIntyrean concepts, the differences between the studies are explained largely by reference to the Confucian tradition operating at both the micro-level within firms and at the macro-level as a means of harmonising the potentially competing institutional logics to which firms are subject. The recent weakening of this tradition, however, suggests that increased conflict may characterise the future. Furthermore, this combination of concepts from the institutional logics perspective with those from MacIntyrean virtue ethics is used to create a new hybrid model of the institutional environment incorporating aspects of morality and rationality. The strengths of this model are demonstrated by its use in analysing the institutional environment in operation within Taiwanese SMEs.

Because wars are fought by human beings and not merely machines, a strong virtue ethic is an essential prerequisite for those engaged in combat. From a philosophical perspective, war has historically been seen as separate and outside of the commonly accepted forms of morality. Yet there remains a general, though not well-thought out, sense that those human beings who fight wars should act ethically. Since warfighters are often called upon to contemplate and complete tasks during war that are not normally required of non-warfighters (civilians), and it is believed these warfighters should act ethically, it becomes necessary to ask: What does soldierly virtue look like? In order to answer this question, I will examine essential elements of moral responsibility and military authority. Once complete, I will propose an Aristotelian-based virtue ethics system, one that is equally valuable to warfighter and civilian. To do this, I will examine the conversation in academia regarding virtue ethics and the foundations of virtue. I will provide both a cursory and deep reading of elements of Aristotle's conception of virtue, but ultimately I will provide a slightly more rigorous reading and reinterpretation of an Aristotelian-based virtue ethic, with a definitive final recommendation for this interpretation being best for everyone, in war or walking down the street. Upon completing a study of this work, one will walk away with a next-generation interpretation of Aristotelian-based Virtue Ethics that denies eudaimonia as the central principle, relying instead on phronesis as its central theme. Phronesis, when properly developed in the warfighter will lead to moral responsibility, better decision-making, and a seamless re-integration into civilian life once has returned from the horrors of war.

Attempting to improve fundamental moral dispositions with technology is prone to unexpected consequences. These dispositions are complex, and fragile when faced with technological interventions. For instance, a drug increasing the disposition to co-operate between individuals can unexpectedly lead to group conflict because it can increase parochialism. Furthermore, these interventions might be detrimental to a person's psychological unity over time and thus might undermine interests whose realisation is sensitive to the continuation of this unity over time. Likewise, they might be detrimental to interests sensitive to the continued chain of human generations. Notwithstanding these risks, there are strong reasons in favour of attempting to improve moral dispositions; it could significantly decrease a wide range of extreme risks that arise from our moral failings (for example, nuclear war from lack of global co-operation). Appealing to a form of virtue theory as a guiding framework is likely to avoid these risks and to address other concerns expressed in the literature. If we apply such a framework, technological interventions aimed at improving fundamental moral dispositions are extremely desirable.

When biological information about an individual is produced in healthcare or research settings, ethical questions may arise about whether the individual herself should be able to access it. This thesis argues that the individual’s identity-related interests warrant serious attention in framing and addressing these questions. Identity interests are largely neglected in bioethical, policy and legal debates about information access – except where information about genetic parentage is concerned. Even there, the relationship between information and identity, and the interests involved, remain unclear. This thesis seeks to fill this conceptual gap and challenge this exceptionalism. It does so by developing a normative account of the roles that a wide range of information about our health, bodies and biological relationships – ‘personal bioinformation’ – can play in the construction of our self-conceptions. This account is developed in two steps. First, building on existing philosophical theories of narrative self-constitution, this thesis proposes that personal bioinformation has a critical role to play in the construction of identity narratives that remain coherent and support us in navigating our embodied experiences. Secondly, drawing on empirical literature reporting individuals’ attitudes to receiving three categories of personal bioinformation (about donor conception, genetic disease susceptibility, and neuroimaging-based psychiatric diagnoses), the thesis seeks to illustrate, demonstrate the plausibility of, and to refine this theoretically-based proposition. From these foundations, it is argued that we can have strong identity-related interests in whether and how we are able to access bioinformation about ourselves. The practical implications of this conclusion are then explored. It is argued that identity interests are not reducible to other interests (for example, in health protection) commonly weighed in information disclosure decisions. They, therefore, warrant attention in their own right. An ethical framework is developed to guide delivery of this. This framework sets out the ethical responsibilities of those who hold bioinformation about us to respond to our identity interests in information disclosure practices and policies. The framework is informed by indications from the illustrative examples that our interests engaged as much by how bioinformation is communicated as whether it is disclosed. Moreover, these interests are not uniformly engaged by all bioinformation in all circumstances and there is potential for identity detriment as well as benefit. The ethical framework highlights the opportunities for and challenges of responding to identity interests and the scope and limits of potential disclosers’ responsibilities to do so. It also makes recommendations as to the principles and characteristics of identity-supporting disclosure practices.

Organizational trust and trust repair are topics that have primarily been considered from a cognitive perspective. Although a number of scholars have called for further investigation into the role of emotions and individual differences in these processes, little empirical research has been conducted. A reason for this may concern how trust is usually measured in the organizational literature, through measures relating to the trustworthiness characteristics of others. This thesis argues against such a “perceived trustworthiness paradigm” (Möllering, 2013a) and empirically tests the approach conceptualised by Dietz and Den Hartog (2006) which asserts that that trust is a process consisting of attitudinal and behavioural processes comprising of belief, decision, and action. It primarily investigates the influence of emotion and emotion-related individual differences in repairing trust, and whether they are integral to the proposed process model. Three studies are conducted to investigate these questions. Studies 1 (N = 82) and 2 (N = 253) are experiments carried out to determine to what extent change in affect influenced participants’ change in perceptions of a coach company from post-violation (a coach crash) to post-trust repair effort (CEO’s response), and their willingness to trust in it. Study 3 (N = 135) is a cross-sectional survey of Volkswagen vehicle owners in the aftermath of the 2015 Emissions Scandal undertaken to measure the trust process in its entirety with people actively involved in a trust violation. Results indicate that negative emotions are influential predictors of trust repair effects and relate strongly to distrusting acts. Individual difference effects were generally not found, but the proposed process model of trust was supported, with willingness to trust mediating the relationship between perceptions of trustworthiness and distrusting acts. Emotions appeared to become more influential as the trust process developed, and findings imply that purely cognitive models are not sufficient to fully understand the nature of trust and its repair.

This thesis provides a detailed analysis of the feasibility of voluntary moral bioenhancement through an ethico-legal exploration of three motivators: money (and financial incentives in general), health, and duty. These motivators are explored in turn over the course of three papers and it is concluded that while none offer a motivator that could encourage broad participation in voluntary programmes of moral bioenhancement, they do provide insight into things that will be important to note in advance of the advent of such an intervention and (especially) of attempts to promote it. In addition, this thesis identifies and explores areas of discussion not previously addressed in the literature, including issues such as: taboo trade-offs in the use of financial incentives to promote participation in programmes of moral bioenhancement, the use of medical definitions in order to classify moral bioenhancement interventions as medically indicated, and the question as to whether there could be a duty to undergo moral bioenhancement interventions. Moral bioenhancement, though currently a hypothetical notion, is considered by many to be a desirable endeavour due to its potential to bring about good consequences and to avoid instances of significant and even ultimate harm. However, unlike other enhancements, moral bioenhancement is something that does not seem to directly benefit the enhanced individual and so there are concerns that people would be disinclined to undergo the intervention. Some writers have proposed that this therefore demonstrates a need for compulsory approaches to the endeavour, but in the introductory chapters of this thesis I demonstrate that such an approach would be ethically and legally problematic and, therefore, a voluntary approach would be required. If moral bioenhancement is considered as something that is good to have (and it seems that such a case can be made, certainly on a societal level), then a method of encouraging participation in programmes of the endeavour will be required. This thesis aims to identify that method by exploring the three possible motivators already mentioned and, in doing so, to analyse the feasibility of voluntary moral bioenhancement in a broader sense.

Purpose: This research examines the proposition that ethics in business functions as part of legitimising narratives, rather than as a normative framework to guide or assess behaviour. Methodology: The applied ethics context of the acquisition of UK military capabilities is employed as a case study to test the proposition. Adopting a critical realist paradigm, Bourdieu’s theory of practice is applied in two stages. Quantitative (survey) and qualitative (narrative interview) data are collected, from which a Weberian ideal type is developed via narrative analysis. Findings: The results reveal that the public/private sector interface should be understood as a Bourdieusian practice, in which people use narratives involving normative ethical claims as a means of delegitimising options that threaten their field positions and capital accumulations. It is argued that akrasia – acting against one’s best interests – can be explained in these terms, and that even if a normative ethics of Defence acquisition is one day possible, any theory of ethics should – for completion – attempt to take account of how ethics serves to support or delegitimise specific narratives in the business of acquisition. Research limitations/implications: The research builds on the literature on akrasia, suggesting that the options available to people in business are behaviourally as well as cognitively limited. Moreover, potential codes of ethics are overruled by symbolic power within a practice and hence have no effect. The research is not longitudinal and is limited to a case study that necessarily involved unrepresentative populations, although the methodology facilitates generalisation. Further work on public/private sector interfaces is needed to explore how other populations narrate challenges to convention. Originality/value: The research represents a novel application of Bourdieu’s theory of practice to the context of public/private sector integration and uniquely to Defence acquisition, disputing the viability and utility of codes of ethics as part of professionalising the acquisition function. It also offers a sociological explanation of akrasia.

Conducting research in emergencies – including following conflict or disaster - is essential to understanding the prevalence of mental health and psychosocial problems, and to strengthening the evidence base for interventions. Recognising that all research must be conducted ethically, questioning what underpins researchers’ construction and management of ethical research procedures and practice are important. To address these questions this thesis presents a qualitative study exploring researchers’ understanding and experiences of research ethics in their everyday practice of post-conflict mental health research. Research involves a multi-site case study conducted in three post-conflict countries in South Asia. 35 qualitative interviews were conducted with researchers ranging from primary investigators (n=5) to field supervisors (n=7) and frontline research assistants (n=23). Adopting a phenomenological epistemology foregrounds researchers’ everyday lived experience of research ethics, acting as an entry point to explore the continuum between procedural and in-practice ethics. Interview questions explored procedural ethics such as ethical review; as well as ethics-in-practice such as enacting informed consent. As a result of interpreters’ involvement in qualitative interviews, and conducting a proportion of interviews online, this thesis presents methodological considerations arising from the research process. Thematic data analysis highlights researchers’ acceptance of a principalist research ethics framework. Analysis draws attention to the multiple social worlds co-producing and applying procedural ethical documents such as the research protocol and informed consent forms, applying the theoretical framework of boundary objects to explore how researchers negotiate this process. This analysis reveals researchers’ autonomy when applying procedures to practice, foregrounding the situated nature of moral judgements in research where the demands of ethics, methodology, and context are balanced to reach conclusions about the right course of action. Further analysis of researchers’ practice of enacting informed consent highlights the underpinning role of trust which manifests itself at societal, organisational, and interpersonal levels. In researchers’ narratives trust is seen as a critical resource, both instrumentally to facilitate research conduct, and normatively as demonstrating researcher integrity and adherence to ethical research standards. Alongside trust is its natural antithesis: that of control, which is evident in descriptions of efforts to monitor and verify the trustworthiness of researchers’ practice in the field. Overarching findings are three meta-themes of trust, control, and voice which emerge methodologically in qualitative interviewing with interpreters and via online platforms; and in relation to research findings exploring the intersection between procedural and in-practice research ethics. Fundamentally this thesis contributes to the existing research ethics literature by drawing attention to the role of the researcher at the centre of procedural and in-practice ethics. Recommendations are drawn to support reclaiming the researchers’ voice in asserting the scope and application of ethics in post-conflict mental health research.

Unethical behaviour is affecting societal behaviour and impacting business success. Information and Communication Technology (ICT) is increasingly adopted across businesses and for personal use and insufficient attention is paid to the impact of unethical practices in the use of ICT on various stakeholders involved. ICT professionals are well positioned to provide guidance to ICT users and decision makers but they need help. While they have the knowledge and skills in ICT, they also need a sense of professional responsibility towards their stakeholders and a moral attitude to help them understand how unethical practices in ICT can affect others and the ability to make good decisions in the use of ICT. Ethics education has been shown to be effective for other professions and this research project builds and tests a model based on current good practices found to be effective in ethics education. More specifically, it adopts a Positive Psychology perspective, not previously used in ICT ethics education, looking at what is working well and examines the use of a Positive Psychology approach, namely Appreciative Inquiry (AI) which has been found elsewhere to be an effective method to motivate change. This research project tests the impact that an Appreciative Inquiry included in a computer ethics class has on the development of moral attitude. The project had a quasi-experiment design with a large sample of over 400 participants (undergraduate Information Technology Management students) using both a control and treatment group to determine the effect of AI on the changes in moral sensitivity and moral judgment of the participants. One well validated survey tool and one developed specifically for ICT, the Defining Issues Test 2 and the IMIS Survey, respectively, were used to test changes from the beginning to the end of each course. The study findings demonstrate that a well-developed ethics course, adopting good practices, produced significant changes in the moral attitudes of the participants. The adoption of AI in the treatment group produced significant changes in elements of the student’s moral judgment validated by both the pre-and post-analysis and instructor observations. Thus taking a Positive Psychology approach to ICT ethics is a useful innovation to ethics education. The project has also demonstrated that AI may have significant potential for ethical education across professions and business at large.

The purpose of this thesis is to present a conception of commutative justice. Commutative justice is defined as that part of justice in transfer (as opposed to justice in acquisition as well as distributive or rectificatory justice), which deals with transferring goods via market exchanges. Thus, this thesis examines which conditions a market exchange has to fulfil in order to be called just. Whereas traditionally speaking conditions like non-coercion or non-deception have received most attention – i.e. conditions focusing on the act of exchanging itself – the thesis' focus is a different one. It argues that we necessarily also have to take into account the consequences of a certain market exchange in order to judge whether it is just. Therefore, the thesis proceeds to analyze how problematic market outcomes like externalities, the formation of monopolies, violations of the Lockean proviso, inequality, and commodification affect the justice of the market exchanges which gave rise to them. The thesis finds that we need to broaden our conception of commutative justice – but only a little. Whereas the issues of externalities, violations of the Lockean proviso, and inequalities do not affect whether a certain market exchange is just, monopolization and commodification do. In order to be commutatively just, a market exchange must not only fulfil the traditional conditions of non-coercion, non-deception, etc., but it also must not bring about certain forms of monopoly nor further certain kinds of commodification. This conclusion leaves open the idea that, say, inequality or externalities could be relevant to distributive justice if not commutative justice.

The dissertation presents an institutional perspective on the role of values and meaning for organizations focusing on the institutional logic of religion. At its core are Chapter III, a conceptual paper, and Chapters IV and V, empirical papers based on an in-depth two-years long ethnographic case study on the founding process of the first Islamic Bank in Germany. They are framed by an introductory chapter and a conclusion that address the overarching research question of how diverse institutional demands are managed within and beyond the boundaries of organizations, as well as a general literature review chapter that embeds the papers within the wider institutional theory literature. Chapter III presents a conceptualization that integrates religion, specifically Islam, with entrepreneurship along three interconnected pillars: the entrepreneurial, socio-economic/ethical and religio-spiritual; and outlines how Islam shapes entrepreneurship at the micro-, meso- and macro-level. It suggests the institutional logics perspective to further analyze the impact of religion on organizations, which the subsequent papers build on. Chapter IV extends theory on organizational hybridity by outlining polyphony and polysemy as two mutually reinforcing organizational responses, that allow competing logics to coexist without structurally separating or blending them, and that produce elastic hybridity, showing how hybrid organizations can accommodate competing logics that are both central and incompatible. Chapter V shows how organizations collectively and dynamically co-generate and co-resolve institutional complexity through four combinatory mechanisms: pushing, pulling, clarifying and tolerating. These are subsequently integrated into a framework based on their desired versus required and actual versus perceptual nature. Overall, this dissertation contributes to a better understanding of how organizations manage diverse institutional demands including religion.

The aim of this thesis is to examine advertising from the point of view of Christian ethics: how it works, what is wrong with it and how it might go right as a practice. It argues that much existing criticism of advertising is justified, but that its power to create desire might be turned towards serving the good of the education of desire, leading us towards, or strengthening, a love of God, and helping us relate to products and services based on this love. This is significant because learning to desire well is central to living a Christian life, and because advertising influences how many people desire today. In contrast to authors who simply criticise advertising, often as part of a general critique of consumer culture, this thesis offers a constructive and detailed examination of the practice itself, looking at how its techniques work and how they might be reformed into an 'art of advertising'. In making this argument the thesis draws primarily on Augustine, in addition to Plato, and modern critics of advertising. First, it describes desire, before examining how advertisements create desire, followed by an assessment of existing criticisms of this process. It then develops an account of the education of desire, identifying what an art of advertising should aim to achieve, before examining the techniques by which an advertisement might achieve this. The argument is intended to contribute to a project within Christian ethics of critiquing advertising, and presenting a workable ethical vision for the future of the industry.

As medical technology has advanced, so too have our attitudes towards the level of control we can expect to hold over our procreative capacities. This creates a multi-dimensional problem for the law in terms of access to services which prevent conception, access to services which terminate a pregnancy and recompensing those whose choices to avoid procreating are frustrated. These developments go to the heart of our perception of autonomy. In order to evaluate these three issues in relation to reproductive autonomy, I set out to investigate how the Gewirthian theory of ethical rationalism can be used to understanding the intersection between law, rights, and autonomy. As such, I assert that it is because of agents’ ability to engage in practical reason that the concept of legal enterprise should be grounded in rationality. Therefore, any attempt to understand notions of autonomy must be based on the categorical imperative derived from the Principle of Generic Consistency (PGC). As a result, I claim that (a) a theory of legal rights must be framed around the indirect application of the PGC and (b) a model of autonomy must account for the limitations drawn by the rational exercise of reason. This requires support for institutional policies which genuinely uphold the rights of agents. In so doing, a greater level of respect for and protection of reproductive autonomy is possible. This exhibits the full conceptual metamorphosis of the PGC from a rational moral principle, through an ethical collective principle, a constitutional principle of legal reason, a basis for rights discourse, and to a model of autonomy. Consequently, the law must be reformed to reflect the rights of agents in these situations and develop an approach which demonstrates a meaningful respect of autonomy. I suggest that this requires rights of access to services, rights to reparation and duties on the State to empower productive agency.

Dignity is the concept most commonly associated with the biotechnological revolution, and almost always used by conservatives in ethics and politics to justify constraining research into novel biotechnologies like cloning, genetic enhancement and life extension. At the same time, dignity is often criticised as inadequate to play such a fundamental role in future-facing bioethics. This thesis is a work at the intersection of applied ethics and politics, and seeks to address two main questions: whether dignity is a useless, hopelessly vague concept, and whether dignity is an inherently political, specifically conservative concept. This problem will be addressed by analysing the concept of dignity as it is found in bioethics policy and in everyday life. Using this conceptual analysis, a structure will be identified that both liberal and conservatives have in common meaning that dignity is not hopelessly vague. Despite having analogous structures, the argument in this thesis shows that the liberal and conservative conceptions of dignity are intractable and both support different positions in many arguments. The implication of this is that dignity will not be useful in building a consensus around policies in future-facing bioethics.

In recent decades, individuals as well as businesses – mainly those living and operating within advanced capitalist systems – have become increasingly aware of the social context of production and, thus, of the impact consumption has on the environment, animals and other fellow humans. Such reflexivity is echoed both in spheres of production (e.g. corporate social responsibility policies) and consumption (e.g. labelling schemes such as fair-trade and organic). Under these conditions the ‘ethical consumer’ was born. While, however, the concepts of ethical and political consumption have been around for some time now, our understanding of what it really means to be ‘ethical’ as a consumer today is still very fuzzy. In contrast with previous studies which ascribe a priori certain meanings and criteria to the ethical consumer concept, this study follows a bottom-up approach that provides space for individuals to express their own views on ethical consumption. To cater for a deeper understanding of the phenomenon under investigation, the research is designed as a case study within a specific geographical location; Partick, Glasgow. This study makes use of primary data generated through 20 in-depth interviews with self-identified ethical consumers, 10 interviews and 15 questionnaires with managers of grocery shops operating in the area, as well as 112 questionnaires completed by the public in a street survey. The findings challenge our conventional understanding of ‘ethics’ in the context of consumption; being ethical as a consumer extends beyond simply purchasing ethically marketed products and services, to include various lifestyle choices. Consumers raised concerns about the degree and nature of change that conventional ethical consumption can achieve. Utilising insights from this research, the study draws a conceptual distinction between the “ethical Shopper” (representing the side of ethical consumption that is hegemonically market-driven) and the “ethical Consumer” (representing its creative, pro-active, agency-driven counterpart). It is suggested that the latter allows consumption as a tool for social change to reach its full potential, since it escapes the fabricated ‘ethics’ of the market. Feeding back to the theoretical frameworks of ethical and political consumption, this study highlights the class and taste bias built into the (very expensive) idealized model of ethical lifestyle and, thus, calls for the inclusion of different types of consumer action such as downshifting, file-sharing, or even collective shoplifting, which have been –until now – neglected.

Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) is not a new area for academics or practitioners, but one that has gained momentum in the past three decades. Despite a proliferation of academic research focusing on CSR, much of the literature is either normative in nature, focusing on what organisations 'should do' in terms of CSR, or is centred on identifying the relationship, if any, between CSR and an organisation's financial performance. This has led to a paucity of research exploring the 'how' and 'why' of CSR. Ultimately, whilst the level of academic and practitioner activity in the area is increasing, our knowledge and understanding of CSR in practice is in its embryonic stages. This thesis explores CSR in practice, in-depth. It presents three case studies, based on evidence gathered through semi-structured interviews and focus groups from three UK-based organisations. Each organisation has been recognised as an exemplar of CSR in practice. This research programme presents a number of findings which make a contribution to our knowledge and understanding of CSR. It found that whilst at times being portrayed in the literature as relatively homogeneous, CSR in practice actually consists of a series of disparate, highly heterogeneous activities, which range from being-'business as usual' to peripheral. The research identifies and explores the antecedents to this heterogeneity, including the impact of an organisation's sector, CEO and culture. Furthermore, organisational motives for engaging in CSR play a much greater role in determining its manifestation in practice than previously thought. Contrary to existing studies, this research found the implementation of CSR to be non-linear, and highlights the importance of engaging in both 'implicit' and 'explicit' CSR. CSR in practice is much more convoluted, complex and counter-intuitive than existing research suggests, with academia and practice having developed thinking and arguments on CSR on entirely separate trajectories.

This thesis explores the role of the self-concept on ethical consumption behaviour within the Thai consumer context. Religiosity has an influence on a person’s self and morality as Thai people place high importance on religious values. Ten consumers are studied through in-depth, phenomenological interviews, focusing on ethical consumption experiences and meanings. The self-concept is viewed as an experiencer and a moral entity that is dynamic and contextual between internal and external values. The study has extended knowledge on the self-concept and self-image congruency in the context of ethical consumption. It found the existence of a self-ethics relationship through processes of internalisation and externalisation. Personal value, emotion, moral salience, religious beliefs and social values are internalised into the self-concept. On the other hand, externalisation allows consumers to express personal meanings onto society. Self-monitoring functions in these processes to control ethical behaviour. Ethical consumption helps consumers to construct and enhance moral identity, underpinned by the moral self. This thesis has found self-ethics congruency, where meanings of the self and ethical consumption are symbolised and encouraging ethical consumption. Moreover, the multidimensional self has emerged from the study. This finding offers insights on different aspects of the self-concept through ethical consumption. Consumers intuitively engage in ethical consumption when emotion is involved. The implications of this study suggest “who ethical consumers are” by looking at the consumer’s self. Organisations and marketers can use different selves and moral identity to segment and target potential ethical consumers while creating brand image corresponding to consumer’s self-image.

The question of whether there might be a moral obligation to select against disability in our offspring has received considerable attention and attracted great controversy within both the philosophical community and beyond over the last couple of decades. Within this thesis I examine this question, taking as a basis for discussion the view that prospective parents should be formally free to choose whether or not to select against disability in their offspring in the absence of adequate justifying reasons to the contrary. I then move on to examine and outline arguments that suggest variously and for a plethora of different reasons that selection against disability should be condemned morally or required. After this is done and it is noted that the sheer volume of different positions and arguments requires a more specific focus I, in my thesis articles take what I view to be the strongest of moral reasons, person-affecting reasons, and look to the question of whether it is possible ground a moral obligation to select against disability in our offspring in the person affecting harms that our reproductive choices might produce. In the first paper I ask whether the non- identity problem really poses such an insurmountable obstacle to the claim that to select against disability may harm those that are created as a result of our selection choices. This leads to the conclusion that on certain accounts of personal identity over time and trans-world identity it is possible to determine harm in a number of previously non-identity cases of which the selection against disability case is one. In the second paper I broaden my focus slightly by looking to the possible harms that our procreative choices might impose on others than the children we may create: ourselves, our existing dependents and existing members of society. In doing this it is shown that our reproductive choices do, at least in societies with advanced social and medical welfare systems, have the potential to impose significant burdens on others. However, whilst this is so, it is also demonstrated that this is not necessarily a decisive reason to condemn a reproductive choice to select for or to fail to select against disability in our offspring. In my final paper I take a slightly different approach, focusing less on the question of whether there should be a moral obligation to select against disability in our offspring and more on the question of whether there should exist a legal imperative to do so. Taking as a basis a liberal approach to the moral limits of law I suggest that impingements on individual liberty may only be justified when it can be shown that our reproductive choices cause significant harms or offence to others, I ask whether the recent insertion into English and Welsh Law of a prohibition on selection for disability can be justified. In line with the findings of the previous two papers which are far from conclusive and by examining the reasons given in legal and policy documents in England and Wales relating to this prohibition I suggest that as it stands such a prohibition cannot be justified. This ultimately leads to a rather unsatisfying – but perhaps inevitable, in light of the messy nature of reproduction – conclusion: It is possible to discuss the ethics of selection against and for disability on person-affecting accounts of morality and to discuss the matter in this way offers sensitive and sensible prescriptions. However, such discussions turn out to be, in virtue of the many competing claims of those affected by reproductive decisions and policy, far more complex than might be assumed and do not fit neatly with the commonly held moral intuition that it is always morally preferable to select against disability in our offspring.

We can improve the ethical decisions made by engineers by altering what information they perceive as relevant when making their decisions. If we want engineers to make better ethical decisions it is essential that they can “see” ethically pertinent information. We can think of how engineers view the world as shaped in two ways; the narratives that they use to define the world and the metaphor of photographic vision. Narratives shape engineers’ thinking and decision making by suggesting that certain roles and beliefs about the world are true. This can lead to filtering - as a result of the narrative the engineer believes that certain information can be safely ignored. Photographic vision (metaphorically viewing the world through a camera) demonstrates that with the limited human ability to perceive information we lose potentially important information as a result zooming past it, zooming too far out to see the detail and by filtering out particular types of information, or by focussing on the wrong parts. Engineers’ perception of what information is pertinent is influenced by their view on what an engineer is, or should be, along with their experience as an engineer and their engineering education. We can alter this perception by changing the environment they experience (professional and educational), by providing them with new information, highlighting information they already have, and by encouraging personal reflection. Encouraging engineers to develop narratives of engineering as a profession, with an awareness of their role as risk imposers and as constituents of professional bodies can alter how they approach their decision making. Developing new ways to describe what an engineer does will provide educators with a different understanding of their role which can influence how future engineers are taught.

The desire to enhance and make ourselves better is not a new one and it has continued to intrigue throughout the ages. Individuals have continued to seek ways to improve and enhance their well-being for example through nutrition, physical exercise, education and so on. Crucial to this improvement of their well-being is improving their ability to remember. Hence, people interested in improving their well-being, are often interested in memory as well. The rationale being that memory is crucial to our well-being. The desire to improve one’s memory then is almost certainly as old as the desire to improve one’s well-being. Traditionally, people have used different means in an attempt to enhance their memories: for example in learning through storytelling, studying, and apprenticeship. In remembering through practices like mnemonics, repetition, singing, and drumming. In retaining, storing and consolidating memories through nutrition and stimulants like coffee to help keep awake; and by external aids like notepads and computers. In forgetting through rituals and rites. Recent scientific advances in biotechnology, nanotechnology, molecular biology, neuroscience, and information technologies, present a wide variety of technologies to enhance many different aspects of human functioning. Thus, some commentators have identified human enhancement as central and one of the most fascinating subject in bioethics in the last two decades. Within, this period, most of the commentators have addressed the Ethical, Social, Legal and Policy (ESLP) issues in human enhancements as a whole as opposed to specific enhancements. However, this is problematic and recently various commentators have found this to be deficient and called for a contextualized case-by-case analysis to human enhancements for example genetic enhancement, moral enhancement, and in my case memory enhancement (ME). The rationale being that the reasons for accepting/rejecting a particular enhancement vary depending on the enhancement itself. Given this enormous variation, moral and legal generalizations about all enhancement processes and technologies are unwise and they should instead be evaluated individually. Taking this as a point of departure, this research will focus specifically on making a case for ME and in doing so assessing the ESLP implications arising from ME. My analysis will draw on the already existing literature for and against enhancement, especially in part two of this thesis; but it will be novel in providing a much more in-depth analysis of ME. From this perspective, I will contribute to the ME debate through two reviews that address the question how we enhance the memory, and through four original papers discussed in part three of this thesis, where I examine and evaluate critically specific ESLP issues that arise with the use of ME. In the conclusion, I will amalgamate all my contribution to the ME debate and suggest the future direction for the ME debate.

Evidence available shows that the ethics review process in Malaysia suffers from a range of problems (Kaur, 2011). These problems may be the result of a lack of training given for REC members and relatedly, it may stem from a lack of understanding of the role of RECs. Since Malaysia is striving to promote the country as a research hub for international collaboration, it is important that the ethics review system that is in place is well set up to ensure only ethical research are being approved. The aim of this thesis is to develop three important key elements of a framework that can be used to provide practical guidance for RECs and their governance in Malaysia. These three important elements of the ethics review process are: - the role of RECs, the criteria of REC membership and the acceptability of variation in decisions made between different RECs. These analysis is then applied to the Malaysian context. My initial recommendation is for RECs to adopt the Daniels and Sabin (1997) accountability for reasonableness model to assist with the decision-making process. The adoption of the model helps to clarify the role of RECs and can be used as a basis to develop the criteria for REC membership as well as to provide a better understanding of the acceptability of variation in decisions between different RECs.

The idea that ‘business ethics' picks out a distinct discipline within ethical theory is contentious; in particular, it is unclear why theoretical approaches to moral and political philosophy cannot satisfactorily address ethical concerns in the context of business activity, just as they can in the context of other human activities. In response, I argue that some features of the business environment require more focused analysis than currently available. This environment is characterised by the presence of large social groups – business organisations – that are not political in nature, but yet wield considerable power and are the vehicles for complex forms of collective action. The most pressing ethical concern raised by such collective action is collective moral responsibility. I develop an account of collective responsibility that is tailored to business organisations and that combines a number of strands of moral thought – a desert-based account of moral responsibility that is of a kind with that typically applied to individual humans; a pluralistic account of how collective responsibility is generated that is rooted in irreducible group-level properties; and a moderate approach to social ontology that sees nothing mysterious in ‘distinct' collective entities. From this starting point I develop two detailed models that illustrate how business organisations can constitute distinct collective entities that may be held morally responsible. The first shows how such organisations may satisfy the conditions required to hold moral agency, which is typically assumed to be a prerequisite for moral responsibility. The second breaks with this tradition and argues for the possibility of ‘non-agential' moral responsibility in cases where complex organisational structures mediate the actions of the moral agents that populate them. I conclude by showing how this distinct organisational-level responsibility, far from insulating organisation members from personal culpability, illustrates quite distinct standards against which such individuals may be judged.

This thesis seeks to contribute to the organisational trust literature by investigating the relevance of trust to organisations through executive self-reports, and exploring the potential congruities and incongruities of these self-reports with the existing trust literature. Further, the study allows for the participants to introduce unique conceptualisations of trust in organisations that may not appear in the literature but might be worthy of further consideration and research. The results of this study begin to fill an existing gap in the trust literature by considering the perceptions of the most senior executives in the corporate environment. A trust typology is proposed (Chapter 5) which distinguishes between characteristics of genuine trust and surrogate trust. Definitions widely cited in the literature are analysed against the typology, and the executives' definitions are compared to consider congruities and incongruities of definitions. The dynamics of trust are examined (Chapter 6), and an optimal trust path for transactions is proposed (Chapter 7). The possible economic impacts of trust in organisations are evaluated (Chapter 8) and new conceptualisations from executive reports are analysed. The extensive use of metaphors by the executives to convey trust is examined (Chapter 9). Alternative configurations of trust are examined (Chapter 10) and a model for optimal trust transactions based on the literature and executive reports are presented. The final chapter argues that future studies may benefit from the findings of this thesis, including key considerations in defining trust for research in organisations, recognising that executives may view trust as an asset that is strategically invested like any other corporate asset, expanding the scope of trust and its potential economic impacts on the organisation, and developing new models for building trust.

Assurance of corporate sustainability reports relies on the idea of a third-party assuror who is independent and objective. The assurance approaches typically used by accountancy companies have been developed over many years and are supported by internal as well as external standards. With the help of these standards, the assuror provides credibility to the public statements of the companies through a thorough checking of statements, data and supporting systems. However, the orthodox approach overlooks or neglects the many paradoxes and dilemmas that are the daily experience of most assurors, e.g. what it means to be independent and objective while at the same time trying to develop a relation with the client. There has also been criticism of assurance, as currently practiced, as being too rigid, too predictable and providing too few benefits to the companies assured. In this thesis, the author explores why and how his own assurance practice differs from the more orthodox approach. This has led to the description of an alternative approach to assurance, called the ‘artist’ approach that takes the ethical dilemmas and paradoxes into account. The approach has been developed and described on the basis of the author’s own experiences using a critically reflexive methodology. The methodology builds on personal narratives and iterative feedback from fellow researchers and supervisors. The development of the ‘artist’ approach is based on: 1) a critical investigation into the idea of ‘compromise’, which leads to an alternative way of thinking about the practice of assurance; 2) a critical investigation into notions of trust and distrust, and power relations, and the effect of these on assurance work; and 3) a concept of ‘stumbling together’, which is built on relationality and ‘essential references’, where the assuror and the assuree are mutually exploring the territory. In the ‘artist’ approach, the values of independence and objectivity are compromised. The assuror actively strives to build personal trust based (at least in part) on technical kinship. Through this trust the power dynamics of the ‘insider’ and the ‘outsider’ are contained; indeed, the notion of ‘insider/outsider’ is forgotten in the moment. Independence has turned into interdependence, and objectivity into mutual engagement, where both assuror and assuree together might discover new issues not known to either of them before. In the orthodox approach, the assuree is ‘called to account’, whilst in the artist approach, the assuree is invited to ‘give an account’. This process of collaborative exploration allows the potential for radical new discoveries, for both assuror and assuree. The ‘artist’ approach as described here has affinities with complex responsive processes of relating as explained by Stacey. In the ‘artist’ approach, the craftsman approach is always paradoxically present at the same time, and the approach makes use of the same tools and the same framework as the craftsman approach. A wider understanding and application of the ‘artist’ approach can potentially lead to significant changes in the way assurors act, and hopefully to assurance results that are more relevant and useful.

The thesis makes a distinctive contribution to the field of professional ethics; offering a more nuanced understanding of the role of a profession’s ethos in relation to its ethics. In so doing, it also offers a valuable insight into GP thinking at what proved to be a unique moment in the history of that branch of the medical profession. Using historical and empirical data, the thesis first traces the development of the medical profession’s ethos - Its belief in itself as a noble, superior profession, of special dignity and worth. It then shows the influence of that ethos in areas of professional decision-making that have had a particular impact on the provision of health care within the LJK over the past 50 years. Taking the profession’s ethos as a benchmark, the study explores the nature of the profession’s response to the creation, control and, in recent years, major reform of the NHS which reform introduced a new emphasis on management. The latter provides a case study that relates the theoretical material to an historical situation This includes a number of interviews with GPs that point to the beliefs and values influencing their decisions in relation to the reforms, as they affected general practice. The study concludes that, although a profession dependant on attracting clients may find it necessary to subscribe to a set of ethical principles that draws on outside beliefs and values, it is the ethics derived from its own internal ethos that will take precedence in guiding everyday thinking and practice

The ethics literature to date has suffered from an inadequate empirical base on which to support discussion about practice, policy and education. Research in the area of ethical decision-making has been inconclusive because of unclear conceptualisations of moral problems, and different methods to investigate the extent to which nurses are confronted with them. In particular, the contextual influences on the formation of moral conflicts and nurses' responses to them have not been explored. In cancer care, there is anecdotal evidence that such influences have a powerful effect on the interaction between individual nurses and perceived moral problems. The study aims to redress previous inadequacies by exploring individual nurses' engagement with perceived moral problems as they occur on an acute cancer unit. The surrounding influences and effects on patient care are studied as part of a fieldwork analysis involving 18 months of participant observation. The researcher worked alongside individual nurses in order to deepen understanding of their perception of moral conflicts. Findings involve the central concern that ethical decisions are not made, and that this can, in part, be attributed to nurses' evident pattern of emotional distancing. The function of emotion in enabling moral engagement is a central argument of this thesis. The lack of a credible ethical language in practice and the effects of hierarchical decision-making are also explored. Against a backdrop of the frequently mismanaged border between acute and palliative care, these issues appear to combine to leave patients and their relatives unsupported as death approaches. By studying ethical decision-making in the context of its application, this study can reliably suggest ways forward in practice. The implications are far-reaching and offer recommendations which improve on those contained in recent policy literature. They will be of direct relevance to those involved in pre- and post registration, and to those responsible for acute cancer services in the UK.