Samuel Mansell

My research draws on the history of moral, political and legal philosophy to rethink contemporary questions in business ethics. I have a particular interest in the nature, purpose and history of the business corporation. My research on this topic has resulted in a philosophical defence of shareholder primacy through a theory of shareholder responsibility. My monograph Capitalism, Corporations and the Social Contract: A Critique of Stakeholder Theory (CUP, 2013), for example, defends shareholder primacy by critically examining the moral arguments underpinning the alternative of normative stakeholder theory.

At the intersection of business ethics and the history of philosophy, I have published on Levinas and the ethics of bureaucracy; stakeholder theory and the social contract tradition from Hobbes to Rawls; shareholder responsibility and Kant's virtue ethics; medieval corporation theory; and most recently Hobbes's theory of the state and the corporation (Finalist for BEQ Outstanding Article Award 2025). 

My work in normative business ethics appears in Business Ethics Quarterly, Journal of Business Ethics, Journal of Institutional Economics, Organization and the 'Business, Value Creation and Society' monograph series at Cambridge University Press. I also serve on the editorial board of Journal of Business Ethics and led an interdisciplinary special issue entitled 'Rethinking Corporate Agency in business, philosophy and law' (2019). Furthermore, in the history of political thought, I recently published a critique of Hobbes's theory of resistance from the perspective of natural law theory (Intellectual History Review, 2024). 

With colleagues at St Andrews, I am currently researching: 1) what an historical approach to philosophy would imply for normative business ethics; 2) an application of Amartya Sen's capabilities approach to employee wellbeing; and 3) a critique of political CSR in light of early Utilitarian writings (especially of Bentham and James Mill) on the East India Company and other 'political' corporations. 

I welcome enquiries from potential PhD students interested in a philosophical and/or historical approach to business ethics. 

Business ethics; stakeholder theory; purpose of the corporation; the political theory of Hobbes; history of political thought; history of the corporation.

2009 - PhD (no revisions) in Management Studies, University of Essex

2004 - MSc (with Distinction) in Finance and Management, University of Essex

2003 - BA (Hons) in Accounting and Management, University of Essex

I joined the School of Management at the University of St Andrews as a Lecturer in 2010 and will be Senior Lecturer from Dec 2026. Previously I was based at the University of Essex where I studied accounting, finance and management (2000 to 2004) with the aim of a lucrative career in corporate finance. However, the chance discovery of philosophy suggested a more contemplative vocation, so I began a PhD in 2004 researching philosophical questions in business ethics (under the supervision of Steffen Böhm and Harro Höpfl). I completed my thesis in 2009, entitled A Critique of Stakeholder Theory, while working for two years as a Teaching Fellow at Essex Business School. Since joining St Andrews, I have served as Pro Dean (Undergraduate) for Arts & Divinity from 2015 to 2017.

Business ethics; moral philosophy; history of political thought

My teaching at St Andrews has covered business ethics, organisational behaviour, introductory accounting, introductory business strategy, critical perspectives on accounting, auditing and corporate governance, theoretical research methods in management, sustainable development, and Hobbes's theory of the state (for the MLitt in Intellectual History). I also coordinated 'Great Ideas 2' (ID1004) from 2017-20, bringing together perspectives on reality, cosmology, evolution and human rights from across the Arts and Science faculties.