From Utilitarian Morality to Moral Imagination

Abstract

In this essay, the authors take Jim March's Journal of Management Inquiry essay on the nature of scholarship as their starting point to assess the contribution of the business school in promoting a “utilitarian morality” model of education where knowledge is valued, not for its intrinsic worth, but because of the consequences it produces. In particular, the authors consider the role of historical, institutional, and market forces in shaping the missions, values, and views of knowledge that business schools purport to achieve. They conclude by suggesting how we might reimagine the business school through the lens of moral imagination.