Bridging Integral Human Development and Intersectionality in Business Ethics Research

This paper, normative in nature and scope, addresses the social role of working organizations in addressing inequality, one of the Grand Challenges of our time and the 10th Goal among UN SDGs. More in depth, it focuses on a gap in organizational and business ethics literature, so far lacking a perspective on inequality able to bridge Integral Human Development and Intersectionality. While there has been an increase in studies deploying Intersectionality as analytical framework to understand inequality and studies adopting integral human development and the capability approach to suggest strategies and policies to tackle it, no unifying perspective has been conveyed using the two. We argue for their joint deployment with the aim to increase effectiveness of diversity management and policies, as well as to face the challenges connected to the organizational reproduction of inequality. Ultimately, this study provides an original theoretical stance able to propose further path of research as well as suggestions to practitioners aiming to building organizational strategies and cultures based on the values of fairness and gender, racial and social justice.