Commentary on the identity and supererogatory actions of companies

• Published date: 01 June 2022
• Author: Laszlo Zsolnai
• Date: 01 June 2022
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1111/basr.12269

ORIGINAL ARTICLE

Commentary on the identity and

supererogatory actions of companies

Laszlo Zsolnai

Business Ethics Center, Corvinus

University of Budapest, Budapest,

Hungary

Correspondence

Laszlo Zsolnai, Business Ethics Center,

Corvinus University of Budapest,

Budapest, Hungary.

Email: laszlo_zsolnai@yahoo.com

Abstract

This paper argues that identity economics and social

psychology provide a useful frame of reference to inter-

pret supererogatory actions and suggests that identity

of companies can be a driving force behind these

actions. Companies may perform actions against the

narrow sense of economic rationality if those actions

serve purposes of high importance for them. The cli-

mate crisis and the more recent COVID-19 crisis call

for supererogatory actions by companies more than

ever before.

KEYWORDS

generosity, identity economics, self-verification, strategic CSR,

supererogation

1|INTRODUCTION

Sometimes companies make extraordinary actions in favor of their stakeholders that go beyond

economic rationality or legal requirements. These actions are called “supererogatory actions”

which represent a different logic than strategic CSR.

In their paper, “A Qualified Account of Supererogation: Toward a Better Conceptualization

of Corporate Social Responsibility,”Tencati et al. (2020) present some demonstrative cases

where companies initiated pro-stakeholder activities and policies that transcend conventional

corporate social responsibility conceptions and go beyond their self-interests. These initiatives

are neither legally nor morally obligatory for the companies. In their paper, Tencati et al. devel-

oped a qualified account of the concept of supererogation which aims to identify the unique

Received: 18 January 2021 Accepted: 28 March 2022

DOI: 10.1111/basr.12269

This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs License, which permits

use and distribution in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited, the use is non-commercial and no modifications or

adaptations are made.

© 2022 The Author. Business and Society Review published by Wiley Periodicals LLC on behalf of W. Michael Hoffman Center for Busi-

ness Ethics at Bentley University.

Bus Soc Rev. 2022;127:395–402. wileyonlinelibrary.com/journal/basr 395