Thomas W. Dunfee Faculty Profile

Thomas W. Dunfee
Joseph Kolodny Professor of Social Responsibility in Business; Professor of Legal Studies and Business Ethics
Chairperson, Legal Studies and Business Ethics Department

LLM, New York University, 1969; JD, New York University, 1966; AB, Marshall University, 1963

Research Areas
Social contracts; social responsibility of business; ethics

Recent Consulting
Advisory Board, Business Ethics Institute, The Business Roundtable; Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee, Glaxo SmithKline, 1987-present; Pro Bono consultant; Caux Roundtable, 1997-present

Current Projects
Current research focus is on (1) corporate social initiatives, and (2) global business ethics.

Academic Positions Held
Wharton: 1974-present (Vice Dean and Director, Wharton Undergraduate Division, 2000-2003; Director, Zicklin Center for Business Ethics Research, 1997-2000; Chairperson, Legal Studies Department, 1979-84, 1987-91, 2005-present; named Joseph Kolodny Professor of Social Responsibility in Business, 1982; Chairperson, Public Management Unit, 1979-83; Acting Chairperson, Legal Studies Department, 1977). Previous appointments: Ohio State University; Illinois State University; New York Institute of Technology. Visiting appointments: University of Michigan; Georgetown University; University of Florida; University of Newcastle, Australia; Indiana University

Career and Recent Professional Awards; Teaching Awards
Distinguished Senior Faculty Award for Excellence, Academy of Legal Studies in Business, 1991

Professional Leadership 2003-2007
Advisory Editor, Legal Studies, Business Ethics Quarterly, 2007-; Journal of Business Ethics, 1996-2003; Academy of Management Review, 2002-2005; Former President, Academy of Legal Studies in Business and of the Society for Business Ethics; Executive Committee, International Society of Business, Economics and Ethics, 2005-

Representative Publications
"Do Firms with Unique Competencies for Rescuing Victims of Human Catastrophes Have Special Obligations? Corporate Responsibility and the AIDS Catastrophe in Sub-Saharan Africa." Business Ethics Quarterly 16.2 (2006).

"A Ten Year Retrospective on ISCT: Recurring Critical Themes and Next Generation Research Topics.” Journal of Business Ethics 68(3) (2006).

(with T. Donaldson)
"Ties that Bind: A Social Contracts Approach to Business Ethics." Harvard Business School Press (1999).

(with A. Spicer and W. Bailey)
“Does National Context Matter in Ethical Decision Making? An Empirical Test of Integrative Social Contract Theory.” Academy of Management Journal 47.4 (2004).