Justice, Identity, and Practical Reasonability in Stakeholder Theory: A Neo-Aristotelian Approach

This article explores a Neo-Aristotelian approach to stakeholder theory grounded in the virtue of justice and the concept of the common good. While mainstream stakeholder theory integrates normative and instrumental dimensions, it faces persistent conceptual challenges—particularly concerning stakeholder identity and the lack of principled criteria for distinguishing between stakeholder types, their normative claims on a firm, and their relative importance. In response, this article takes a virtue ethical approach that proposes the virtue of justice as the key epistemological and moral foundation for stakeholder identification and corporate responsibility. In particular, it redefines stakeholder classification based on the different parts of justice, namely, distributive justice for organizational stakeholders, commutative justice for commercial stakeholders, and political justice for civic or public stakeholders. Finally, the article addresses the challenge of reasonability in stakeholder theory by showing how Aristotelian rhetorical knowledge—based on shared narratives and endoxa—connects philosophical principles with actual business practices. This justice-based framework enhances the moral coherence and practical applicability of stakeholder theory, enabling firms to navigate ethical complexity while contributing meaningfully to the development of persons, organizations, and society at large.