The paper on “Interdisciplinary Business Ethics in Hungary” by Laszlo Zsolnai was published in the book Cowton, C., von Weltzien Høivik, H., Jeurissen, R., Jansen, B. (Eds): Researching and Teaching Business Ethics in Europe. Springer, pp. 95-112.
The paper presents the history of business ethics in Hungary through the case of the Business Ethics Center of Corvinus University of Budapest. The Center introduced business ethics in the country in the early 1990s and since then it has functioned as a frontliner and market leader in the field. Business ethics practiced by the Business Ethics Center is characterized by the following features: (1) broad, interdisciplinary orientation, (2) strong collaboration with Europe, North America, and Asia, (3) the inclusion of spirituality and religion in the business ethics discourse, (4) explicit interest in re-examining the moral foundations of economics, and (5) discovering ethical-based new business models. The paper also presents further areas of business ethics championed by other institutes in Hungary, including research on corruption, and research on sustainability and the circular economy. The chapter concludes with a discussion of the future of business ethics in Hungary and beyond. How can the discipline become more influential in improving the ethicality of economic behavior and economic policy?