Research - Ethics & Social Responsibility Initiative

"The Trouble with Authenticity: Brand Authenticity as a Thick Concept and Why No Brand Can Show That It Has It"

ESRI Postdoctoral Researcher Minji Jang and Craig Smith, INSEAD Chaired Professor of Ethics and Social Responsibility and Academic Director of ESRI, presented their research paper “The Trouble with Authenticity: Brand Authenticity as a Thick Concept and Why No Brand Can Show That It Has It” at the Society for Business Ethics (SBE) Annual Conference in Philadelphia in July 2026, following a pre-read session at Business Ethics in the 6ix in Toronto in May. The paper develops a “thicker” concept of brand authenticity, examining the conditions under which brands can be considered authentic and the fundamental challenge of demonstrating the motivations underlying their commitments.
 

“Business Ethics and Democracy – Illiberalism as a Challenge for Business and Society”

Craig Smith, INSEAD Chaired Professor of Ethics and Social Responsibility and Academic Director of ESRI, presented research with Markus Scholz, Professor at Technische Universität Dresden and ESRI Visiting Scholar, and D.S. Benedikt Kapteina, Research Fellow at Technische Universität Dresden, at the “Business Ethics and Democracy – Illiberalism as a Challenge for Business and Society” workshop in Philadelphia in July 2026. Building on discussions from ESRI’s 2024 Signature Event, the research introduces the concept of Corporate Democratic Action (CDA) and examines if, when and how companies might appropriately engage in protecting democratic principles and institutions, while considering the potential risks and limits of corporate political engagement.

 

“Judgments of Marketing Ethics in Times of Trouble”

ESRI External Affiliate Yvetta (Iveta) Simonyan, Associate Professor and Senior Lecturer in Management & Marketing at the University of Bath, and Craig Smith, INSEAD Chaired Professor of Ethics and Social Responsibility and Academic Director of ESRI, presented the paper “Judgments of Marketing Ethics in Times of Trouble” at the EMAC Conference in Bath in June 2026. The research examines how crises influence consumers’ ethical evaluations of marketing practices, suggesting that vulnerability and the nature of a crisis can affect how questionable practices are judged.

 

“What Constitutes Reasonable Care in Human-AI Systems?”

ESRI Postdoctoral Researcher Minji Jang presented the paper “What Constitutes Reasonable Care in Human-AI Systems?” at the European Business Ethics Network (EBEN) Annual Conference in Rennes in May. Co-authored with ESRI Visiting Scholars Leena Lankoski and David Ronnegard, and INSEAD Chaired Professor of Ethics and Social Responsibility Craig Smith, the paper examines how responsibility and ethical care can be understood in Human-AI systems, where agency is distributed, outcomes are uncertain, and decision-making increasingly involves both human and technological actors.

“Moral Responsibility in Human-AI Systems”

Craig Smith, Academic Director of ESRI and INSEAD Chaired Professor of Ethics and Social Responsibility, together with ESRI Visiting Scholars David Rönnegard and Leena Lankoski, contributed to a session on “Moral Responsibility in Human-AI Systems” at the Society for Business Ethics Annual Conference 2025 in Copenhagen. Chaired by ESRI Postdoctoral Researcher Minji Jang, the session explored questions of agency, blame and accountability when AI systems make harmful decisions, examining how moral responsibility should be understood as AI becomes increasingly embedded in decision-making.