The Multidimensional Nature of Consensus in Business Economics: From Social Contract to Digital Transformation

Abstract

The contribution addresses consensus in business economics, analyzing its theoretical foundations, empirical manifestations, and strategic implications. Consensus is defined as an invisible infrastructure that supports the modern enterprise, configured not only as a formal agreement but as a social construct that permeates internal and external organizational relationships. The analysis begins with the theoretical roots of consensus, traceable to contractualist and institutionalist traditions, and then examines the fundamental contribution of stakeholder theory. The document illustrates how consensus manifests concretely in organizational dynamics through governance systems, decision-making processes, communication strategies, and change management. Particularly significant is the conceptualization of consensus as a strategic resource capable of generating sustainable competitive advantage, characterized by value, rarity, and non-substitutability according to the Resource-Based View. The contribution also addresses challenges and opportunities for consensus management in the digital era, highlighting how technologies and social media have transformed the architecture of corporate communication and accelerated the processes of consensus formation and dissolution. A new paradigm of organizational consensus is outlined, characterized by the need to balance potentially conflicting requirements (univocality and pluralism, stability and innovation, control and participation), emphasizing the importance of developing contextual approaches that recognize the diversity of legitimate practices and distinguish between authentic consensus and manipulation.