The Business Ethics Center of Corvinus University of Budapest was established in 1993 by József Kindler and Laszlo Zsolnai. Since July 2022 it is part of the Corvinus Institute for Advanced Studies.
The mission of the Center is to promote ideas and models of business ethics in higher education, academic research, and business life. The functioning of the Center is based on the conviction that ethics is a relevant aspect at all levels of economic activity, from individual and organizational to societal and global. Complex economic and social problems require, we believe, transdiscplinary approaches using insights from economics, management, psychology, ethics, and sustainability sciences.
From the 30 years of research work of the Business Ethics Center the following basic research statements can be derived:
(1) Economic behavior is multifaceted and context-dependent. Two major factors determine the ethicality of economic behavior: the moral character of the actor and the relative cost of ethical behavior.
(2) The fairness of procedures is a major determinant of the willingness of cooperation of economic actors.
(3) Actors who are intrinsically committed to the common good and define success in multi-dimensional terms are inclined to serve nature, society and future generations.
(4) Spirituality can play a major creative role in the deliberation of economic decisions and actions.
(5) Sufficiency-oriented, community-based economic models are crucial for achieving a stable Earth-Human system.
(6) Only non-materialistic value orientation can produce real material wellbeing for people.