To Get Companies to Take Action on Social Issues, Emphasize Morals, Not the Business Case

If you are an employee who wants to create social change from within your organization, what is the best approach? Conventional wisdom says to make the business case — convince management that addressing the issue will help the company’s bottom line. Yet some have questioned whether we always have to make the business case. Research also shows the business case can activate a leader’s “economic schema,” or a tendency to make decisions solely from an economic viewpoint, which can lead to less compassionate behavior.

Researchers set out to scientifically study whether the business case or the moral case for combatting social problems was most persuasive to managers. In four studies, with more than 400 U.S. employees across several organizations, they found no support for the efficacy of the business case. But they did find moral language was most persuasive, provided employees framed the social problem as in line with what the company stood for at its core.