Biography
I joined the School of Management at the University of 精东传媒 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 B枚hm and Harro H枚pfl). 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 精东传媒, I have served as Pro Dean (Undergraduate) for Arts & Divinity from 2015 to 2017.
Teaching
My teaching at 精东传媒 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.
Research areas
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 intellectual 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 proposed alternatives.
At the intersection of business ethics and the history of philosophy, I have also 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 corporation (Finalist for BEQ Outstanding Article Award 2025). In political philosophy, I recently published a critique of Hobbes's theory of resistance, from the perspective of natural law theory.
This work appears in Business Ethics Quarterly, Journal of Business Ethics, Intellectual History Review, Journal of Institutional Economics 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). I am currently researching what an historical approach to philosophy would imply for normative business ethics, and welcome enquiries from potential PhD students interested in a philosophical and/or historical approach to business ethics.
PhD supervision
- Jonas Franzen
- Katrina Rees
- Lakshmi Thiagarajan
Selected publications
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Mansell, S. & Boehne, B., 1 Feb 2027, Elgar encylopedia of business ethics. Akrivou, K. & Gonz谩lez-Cant贸n, C. (eds.). Cheltenham, UK: Edward Elgar Publishing Ltd, 10 p. (Elgar encyclopedias in business and management series).
Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding 鈥� Entry for encyclopedia/dictionary
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Mansell, S., 1 Feb 2027, Elgar encyclopedia of business ethics. Akrivou, K. & Gonz谩lez-Cant贸n, C. (eds.). Cheltenham, UK: Edward Elgar Publishing Ltd, 15 p. (Elgar encyclopedias in business and management series).
Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding 鈥� Entry for encyclopedia/dictionary
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Mansell, S., 1 Feb 2027, Elgar encyclopedia of business ethics. Akrivou, K. & Gonz谩lez-Cant贸n, C. (eds.). Cheltenham, UK: Edward Elgar Publishing Ltd, 14 p. (Elgar encyclopedias in business and management series).
Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding 鈥� Entry for encyclopedia/dictionary
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Mansell, S., 12 Apr 2026, Handbook of the philosophical foundations of business ethics. L眉tge, C. & Thejls Ziegler, M. (eds.). 2nd ed. Dordrecht: Springer, p. 1-20 20 p.
Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding 鈥� Entry for encyclopedia/dictionary
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Mansell, S., 1 Sept 2025, 1 p. Online : University of 精东传媒.
Research output: Other contribution
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Open access
Mansell, S. F., 25 Apr 2025, In: Business Ethics Quarterly. 35, 2, p. 187-215 29 p.
Research output: Contribution to journal 鈥� Article 鈥� peer-review
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Open access
Mansell, S., 2024, In: Intellectual History Review. 34, 2, p. 317-341 25 p.
Research output: Contribution to journal 鈥� Article 鈥� peer-review
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Open access
Mansell, S. F. & Sison, A. J. G., Oct 2020, In: Journal of Institutional Economics. 16, 5, p. 579-595 38 p.
Research output: Contribution to journal 鈥� Article 鈥� peer-review
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Open access
Burt, E. & Mansell, S. F., 30 Sept 2019, In: Journal of Business Ethics. 159, 1, p. 59-73 15 p.
Research output: Contribution to journal 鈥� Article 鈥� peer-review
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Open access
Mansell, S. F., Ferguson, R. J., Gindis, D. & Pasternak, A., Feb 2019, In: Journal of Business Ethics. 154, 4, p. 893-899
Research output: Contribution to journal 鈥� Editorial