Doing the right thing or doing things right? The role of ethics of care and ethics of justice in human resource management of social enterprises

Abstract Human resource management deployments of social enterprises foster care among their members, encourage caring relationships, and enhance the visibility and impact of the diverse voices of their stakeholders and, ultimately, contribute to the creation of a caring organization. The results of this study emphasize the importance of ethics in social enterprises manifested primarily through human resource management practices. Our analysis confirms that the vast majority of social enterprises are motivated by the ethics of care. Social enterprises offer a unique context to juxtapose the ethics of care and ethics of justice because they are founded and operated by caring people but also have to achieve profitability that reliable decision‐making, objectivity, and impartiality.