The past few years have seen a growing call for businesses to be ethical in both what they do and how they do it. Research from the University shows how ethical practice can have both an immediate and long-term impact for social entrepreneurs.

The researchers focused on something called “care ethics”, which is when we emphasize our responsibility and caring for other people. In the business world, this means working to ensure that society benefits as much as our bottom line benefits from any particular activity.

“The study provides interesting insight into how companies promoting social sustainability increase people’s well-being and steer society towards a long-term sustainability transition,” the researchers explain.

Social success

The researchers conducted ethnographic research into a couple of Indian social enterprises. The first enterprise developed low-carbon and renewable energy solutions from biomass residue, and the entrepreneurs would work with the local rural communities to help them develop an eco-friendly fuel from any pine needles that would ordinarily be put into refuse but is plentiful in local forests. This helps to generate income for locals while also mitigating the risk of forest fires in the region.

The second enterprise focuses on school children in rural and semi-urban areas and aims to raise awareness of things such as climate change, renewable energy, and the circular economy.

Both enterprises operated in areas where people lived in challenging economic circumstances. By practicing care ethics, the researchers found that the enterprises were able to bolster the self-esteem of the local communities, and subsequently increase their economic activity. What’s more, they also helped to focus attention on the various social structures that maintain poverty and social exclusion.

“Companies practicing care ethics will also accelerate the sustainability transformation by increasing people’s well-being and addressing the structures of society that need to be reformed in order for the sustainability transformation to happen,” the researchers conclude.

“For those who want to promote social sustainability, the results of this study are encouraging. Our own sustainability actions in everyday situations of interaction also shape social structures in a broader sense.”