Watson, Chrystie, Case, Peter, Pryce, Josephine, Jarvis, Carol, and Küpers, Wendelin (2026) Neo-Stoicism and Complex Social-ecological Systems: Ethical Practices in Contemporary Workplaces. Philosophy of Management. (In Press)

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Abstract

This paper presents an empirical study examining how professionals in contemporary workplaces interpret and apply Stoic philosophy to shape their ethical conduct. Conceptualised as ‘Neo-Stoic’ philosophy, the study contributes to scholarly understanding of how an ancient ethical tradition informs contemporary social-ecological systems (SES) thinking and practice. The exploratory study included a mixed qualitative/quantitative survey of professionals practicing Stoicism in their work setting, with more detailed follow-up interviews with participants recruited through the survey. Drawing on these data, the paper presents instances representative of the intention, contribution and ethical guidance of Stoic philosophy in professional practice through the reported experiences of practitioners navigating workplace challenges. Thematic analysis revealed three main themes: ‘being Stoic’ in a contemporary workplace; contribution to a ‘common good’; and providing guidance to others. The findings reveal how the ancient philosophy of Stoicism has been adapted to contemporary workplaces, particularly through the attention paid to the broader SES implications of (Neo-) Stoic practitioners’ pursuit of the common good. Neo-Stoic practices are seen to promote a ‘beyond compliance’ ethics-as-practice and aspire to address SES sustainability issues, particularly in circumstances of unrest and crisis, such as experienced through the COVID-19 pandemic. The paper demonstrates how Neo-Stoic practices can inform professional workplace responses to SES sustainability imperatives.

Item ID:	89857
Item Type:	Article (Research - C1)
ISSN:	2052-9597
Keywords:	beyond compliance ethics, Neo-Stoicism, Stoic philosophy, ethics-as-practice, common good, social-ecological systems sustainability
Copyright Information:	© The Author(s) 2026. This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article’s Creative Commons licence, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article’s Creative Commons licence and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this licence, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/.
Date Deposited:	22 Jan 2026 23:55
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