Abstract Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to explore the congruencies and incongruences between the moral and entrepreneurial accountabilities of Lillian McMurry to provide insights for entrepreneurs and entrepreneurship. Ms McMurry was the entrepreneurial force behind the founding of Trumpet Records, a unique, Mississippi Delta Blues record label in the 1950s. Design/methodology/approach – The examination of this historical case study is grounded in the theoretical examination of the tensions between Lillian McMurry’s felt moral and entrepreneurial accountabilities. Using an analytical archival historical method, a narrative explanation of how these tensions influenced the success and, ultimately, the failure of Trumpet Records are developed. Findings – The accounting records highlighted a number of issues hampering the commercial profitability of Trumpet Records. Moreover, the archival and documentary sources examined also proved revealing as to conflicts between Ms McMurry’s personal character and mercantile determination as an entrepreneur. Research limitations/implications – The approach of using analytically structured historical narrative as a research strategy is but one method of explaining the tensions between the moral and entrepreneurial accountabilities of Lillian McMurry. Practical implications – The proponents of virtue ethics suggest that this Aristotelian personal character perspective is more fundamental than traditional, act-oriented consequentialist teleological and deontological ethical decision-making approaches. A perspective of moral accountability exceeding the norm of the obstructionist stance is required to maintain a sound balance between entrepreneurial accountability and moral accountability. Originality/value – This paper adopts a mercantile perspective, using the accounting and related business records of Trumpet Records, to examine the leadership characteristics of Lillian McMurry.
The authors would like to thank Dale Flesher and Bill Black for their helpful comments in reviewing earlier drafts of this paper. Also, special thanks to Greg Johnson, Blues Archivist at the University of Mississippi, for his assistance and feedback.
The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available on Emerald Insight at: www.emeraldinsight.com/1751-1348.htm
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Journal of Management History Vol. 22 No. 1, 2016 pp. 2-23 © Emerald Group Publishing Limited 1751-1348 DOI 10.1108/JMH-03-2015-0018
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Practical lessons learned for entrepreneurs facing the moral dilemma of competing accountabilities and advance questions to spur future research in this area are drawn.
Keywords Entrepreneurial accountabilities, Moral accountabilities
Paper type Case study
When the story of the blues’ formative relationship with rock “n” roll is one day told in full, the name of a white woman, wife of a furniture store owner in Jackson, Mississippi, should be remembered as a seminal influence in the growth of music. Dallas (1999, p. 1)
Outside of blues aficionados and historians, few readers may recognize the incredible entrepreneurial story of Lillian McMurry and her improbable venture – the record label she founded – Trumpet Records (Humphreys et al., 2013). The company was originally incorporated as the Diamond Record Company (DRC) and focused on recording gospel artists, but later changed its name to Trumpet Records (named after the trumpet of the archangel Gabriel due to copyright issues with the use of DRC). The company, ultimately, recorded a variety of genres, but is perhaps best remembered for the rhythm and blues classics (labeled as “race” music until 1948 – see Mabry, 1990; Marable, 1984) recorded under the Trumpet label (Ryan, 2004). Though highly regarded as a successful enterprise for its artistic achievement among blues enthusiasts, Trumpet Records ceased operations in 1955 after only five years in business (Ryan, 2004). Fortunately, for researchers, one unique feature of this venture is that it is the only entrepreneurial independent record label of Delta Blues music whose complete business records have been preserved (Mabry, 1990) and made accessible through the Trumpet Records/Lillian Shedd McMurry Special Collections at the J.D. Williams Library, University of Mississippi.
As it is often the case with entrepreneurs (Carraher, 2005; Carraher et al., 2008; Clarke and Holt, 2009), the robust personality of Lillian McMurry and the successful functioning of Trumpet Records were hopelessly intertwined because she felt accountable both morally and commercially for almost every aspect of the venture (Humphreys et al., 2011). For example, Lillian felt accountable to the venture and its stakeholders for the premature exodus of artists (e.g. other record labels deceitfully poached artists such as Elmo James whose hit “Dust My Broom” reached top 10 on the R&B charts) because these departures damaged Trumpet Records. Ms McMurry was a shrewd entrepreneur who faced competitors that routinely engaged in unethical competitive practices (Ryan, 2004). The organizational harm that resulted is visible from the company’s cash journal, ledger and other sources that were the foundation of her felt entrepreneurial accountability.
More distinctively, our exploration of Trumpet’s accounting records offers specific insights into the tension between Lillian’s entrepreneurial accountability to her venture and her moral accountability to herself. Her accountability to external stakeholders was always governed by her commitment to engage in moral competitive practices (Humphreys et al., 2011) and make a valuable contribution to the music industry via her record label.
Consequently, the case of Trumpet Records was intentionally selected (Siggelkow, 2007) for the potential insights available (Humphreys et al., 2015a; Novicevic et al., 2011) regarding tensions between entrepreneurial and moral accountability. Such a case-based approach is an appropriate interpretative research method (Ahmed and
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Humphreys, 2008; Ketokivi and Choi, 2014; Yin, 2014), as narrative explanations from unique case studies can be useful when attempting to approach complex and conflicting processes (Humphreys et al., 2015b).
To explore the resulting tensions between Lillian McMurry’s moral and entrepreneurial accountabilities (Hannasch, 1984), we scrutinized the Trumpet Records case using the analytically structured history research strategy recently recommended by Rowlinson et al. (2014). Specifically, the analytical construct of perceived accountability (Novicevic et al., 2008) was used to search archival materials related to Trumpet Records by drawing on primary sources and secondary sources (i.e. documentary) using an analytical lens (Rowlinson et al., 2014). From these archived sources, we construct an analytically structured historical narrative to explain the accountability tensions that Lillian McMurry faced over the life of her venture.
Our article is organized as follows. First, we describe Lillian McMurry’s background and the scope of her entrepreneurial venture. Second, we analyze the venture’s business records to explicate the successes and failures of Trumpet Records. Third, we theoretically frame the tension between McMurry’s moral and entrepreneurial accountabilities and evaluate this tension empirically using the archival data of Trumpet Records. Finally, we draw lessons learned for entrepreneurs facing a dilemma of conflicting accountabilities.
Background information about Lillian Shedd McMurry What is unique about Trumpet Records is that this independent label company was founded by a young Mississippi woman during the de jure Segregation Era. Although this feat may not be considered a noteworthy event today, it was an exceptional achievement during the Segregation Era between 1900 and 1939 (Library of Congress, 2015). First, Ms McMurry’s forays into the music industry occurred in the early 1950s, at least one decade before the women’s rights movement of the latter half of the twentieth century. Second, while singing played a role in her formative years, Ms McMurry had limited education and no practical experience in the music business. Third, Lillian McMurry, a white woman and avid reader, found success in the music industry by gaining the trust of African-American artistes whom she recorded in the studios of the segregated South. Overcoming any one of these barriers reaches the level of exceptional (Humphreys et al., 2013).
Born on December 30, 1921 in Purvis, Mississippi (south of Hattiesburg), Ms Lillian Shedd McMurry and her family suffered from poverty during the Great Depression and were forced to relocate to live with other relatives so that her father could find work and the family could stay together. Moreover, family members regularly sang to entertain themselves in the evenings. Steeped in music and religion, young Lillian gave piano lessons and sang in church (Ryan, 2004). During her high school days, Ms McMurry worked part-time after school and graduated with training in bookkeeping and secretarial work. After moving to Jackson, Mississippi, she took a job in a pharmacy, starting as a counterperson, but later was promoted to the position of manager due to her diligence and exceptional work ethic (Humphreys et al., 2011). Lillian became secretary to the Executive Secretary of the governor of the State of Mississippi shortly after her family moved to Jackson (Ryan, 2004), the place where she would marry and found Trumpet Records.
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Background of trumpet records The story of Trumpet Records offers a glimpse into the world of record labels of the Mississippi Delta Blues and the broader cultural changes of the 1950s and 1960s (Escott and Hawkins, 1980). Mabry (1990) argues that the rapid growth and decline of entrepreneurial record labels engaged in the production and sale of “race” music during the 1950s was facilitated by three main factors. The first factor was the change introduced by technological innovations and advancements. This permitted small independent companies to easily record track songs of their own artist without having to expend significant capital. Second, demographic shifts were created by the World War II. The changes in demography created after the war facilitated migration and congregation of lovers of rhythm “n” blues music into areas penetrable by entrepreneurs who owned independent record labels. Lastly, the introduction of television also had a significant impact, as access of television heightened the demand for any kind of music available (Humphreys et al., 2011).
Moreover, the civil rights movement changed life in America for all citizens, and this story illustrates the eve of this change. Specifically, the success of early-1950s blues artists foreshadowed the rise of rock “n” roll that later served as a bridge crossing racial boundaries in popular culture. This bridge was partially built by Trumpet Records. Vinyl records produced by Trumpet Records included original musical scores that were later covered by artists such as ZZ Top and Muddy Waters and featured in the first Blues Brothers movie, starring John Belushi and Dan Ackroyd (Hannasch, 1984). These societal changes opened an opportunity for Lillian McMurry to write the story of Trumpet Records as her life story. The story began one day at a furniture store on State Street, as Lillian asked about a nice grand piano for sale to replace the old upright piano in her apartment. The store’s owner, Willard McMurry, answered Lillian’s questions and even drove her home to inspect the old piano. The next day, Willard phoned Lillian for a date and the two married in November 1945. After the wedding, the McMurrys remained proprietors of State Furniture. In late 1949, Willard asked Lillian to help with a project that inadvertently led to her career in the music industry. Ms McMurry recounted the story in an interview published in the July 6, 1984 issue of The Record Collector’s Goldmine magazine (Hannasch, 1984):
In the early ‘50s, Willard bought out a hardware store at 309 N. Farish Street where the black and the white downtowns intersected. Willard sent me down there to sell out all the stock. In the front were a few old 78s (records) […] Anyway, I’d never heard a black record before. But this white guy Campbell and two brothers that were black […] were sent over to help me and started playing a record by Wynonie Harris. I’d never heard anything with rhythm and freedom before. Campbell and the two brothers told me how prized the “race” records were to black people […].
This story points out a number of differences with life in the South today. Just a half century ago, segregation persisted and the presence of separate restaurants, hotels and even whole sections of cities provided tangible evidence of its existence. From today’s point of view, ignorance about the existence of the blues, an original American art form, by a native Mississippian in her twenties is striking. Obviously, Lillian’s sudden exposure to blues music left a lasting impression. In her interview with Goldmine magazine, Lillian explained (Hannasch, 1984):
(Back then) you had to order them (records by black artists) from wholesale houses in New Orleans. Shortly thereafter, Willard and I were going to New Orleans on business and I had
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Campbell make up a list of records to buy […]. […] when we got back to Jackson, we sold those out PDQ (pretty darn quick), along with all the old stock in our store. Before I realized what was happening, I was calling orders to New Orleans and Memphis and selling all the records that I could get. […] this was the last days of race records before […] rock “n” roll.”
Lillian had discovered an unmet need for an emerging music genre in her city and was prepared to meet that need. Combining her husband Willard’s financial and moral support with her music interest acquired in her youth, along with her previous success in retail stores, Lillian moved headlong into this new retail venture. Moreover, Lillian had a talent for marketing her new store, which she named “Record Mart-Furniture Bargains”. For example, she sponsored a program on WRBC in Jackson, the “Record Mart Show,” which was heard in six states and even in Cuba. In a short time, the radio show attracted wide attention and spawned demand for her records outside of Jackson.
The advertising success stimulated more creativity in her marketing efforts, as Lillian began a mail-order business, mailing record lists and free catalogs (mostly to rural areas without shops) and enjoying an increasing and reliable sales level. In fact, Record Mart-Furniture Bargains “never had more than a two per cent return on CODs” (Hannasch, 1984). Triggered at first by an innocent encounter during closing of a hardware store, Lillian’s business instincts later evolved and resulted in a profitable retail and mail-order enterprise with impressive regional market potential (Humphreys et al., 2011). These successes proved to be the earliest steps in a case resembling an unwitting attempt at vertical integration in the music business.
Success of Trumpet Records As part of her marketing strategy, Lillian placed speakers outside the Record Mart to draw in crowds. In addition, the Record Mart featured listening booths and attracted a crowd of record players-groups of black men “singing spirituals along with the records. Some of them were really good too!” (Hannasch, 1984). Though Lillian suggested that her interest began in 1949, archival records report that Lillian’s earliest efforts at producing a record dates back to the recording of a black gospel group, the St. Andrews Gospelaires, on April 3, 1950 (Ryan, 2004).
Ms McMurry succeeded in signing other artists and recording single records. According to the Trumpet discography, early artists included the gospel groups: St. Andrews Gospelaires (Every Word of Jesus Is True) and Southern Sons Quartette (New Born Again, Peace in the Valley and My God is a Mighty Man), and the country group, Kay Kellum and His Dixie Ramblers (Love Stay Away From My Heart). According to the Lillian McMurry’s interview in Living Blues magazine, the earliest Trumpet Records releases also included Nearer My God to Thee and Search Me, Lord by the Southern Sons, as well as Eyesight to the Blind and Crazy about You Baby, by Sonny Boy Williamson.
Regardless of the exact date of her earliest interest in making records, the business venture came into existence when she received the articles of incorporation on June 27, 1950 (Minute Book, 1950). The minute book included the original charter of incorporation. Ms McMurry named her company “Diamond Record Company”, but later “couldn’t get the rights (to call the label Diamond) because somebody else had the name” (Hannasch, 1984). Though the accounting and legal papers reference the incorporated name, the corporation name, its initials (DRC) and the label name, Trumpet Records, are commonly used interchangeably.
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One page of the cash journal included an entry dated July 1, 1950 for the initial capital contributed to DRC. According to the minute book, Mr McMurry was installed as President of DRC and Ms McMurry as the Vice President, Secretary and Treasurer. They were the only stockholders and each had a 50 per cent share of the business. For the succeeding years, Ms McMurry dutifully included a page in the minute book showing that an annual meeting was held on or about July 9 and that she and her husband retained their corporate positions.
By July 1950, Lillian had already signed some artists to recording contracts, which she subsequently sold to Diamond Record Company (DRC). Besides those contracts, DRC had very few assets and struggled for operating capital in 1950. Support came in the form of additional issuances of stock on September 27 ($100) and November 28 ($900). Infusions of cash from Willard and his State Furniture Company would be recurring whenever DRC needed cash infusions. DRC needed cash on those dates, as revealed in the cash journal. Even after the stock sale, DRC only had $67.98 cash balance on October 14 and $18.05 cash balance on November 11. The November sale of stock followed checks written on November 26 and 27 that totaled $651.88.
At the end of 1950, DRC’s books reported a net loss of $1,292.38 on sales of $760.37. The largest single expense category listed, “Artist Expenses”, totaled $1415.90. Indeed, from the very start, artists proved expensive. The closing entries for 1950 also list outstanding loans to artists: $25 to Sonny Boy Williamson, $125 to the Southern Sons and $40 to the Soulseekers. Like cash infusions from Willard, loans to artists appeared regularly in DRC’s cash journal.
The first quarter of 1951 proved quite busy for Trumpet Records. During this time, the Trumpet Records discography listed 13 recording sessions held at Scott Radio Service, also located in Jackson. No sales were recorded in the first quarter of 1951. Then, the company encountered other difficulties. Ms McMurry recounts some of the challenges of this time (Hannasch, 1984):
I got six records together and we hired a salesman to travel the South. He went out and blew money and ran up a big car bill in Memphis so I fired him. That was bad enough but then disaster really hit. All our masters burned in a fire at Master Record Co in Chicago. […] after the fire, we had to start over making Trumpet Records.
While her salesman traveled, Ms McMurry succeeded in securing more distribution over the phone than he had during his trip (O’Neal, 1986).
As one can gather from these examples, operating Trumpet Records continued to require regular cash infusions. In 1951, Willard McMurry and State Furniture extended loans to DRC instead of purchasing stock. In the first half of 1951 alone, Willard and State Furniture loaned over $3,000 to DRC (Cash Journal, 1951). Though the borrower and lender were husband and wife, the arrangement took a businesslike tone. In the 1951 annual meeting minutes, the owners agreed that “stockholders were not obligated to lend monies to Diamond Record Co, Inc.” (Minute Book, 1951).
During most of 1951, Scott Radio Service remained busy recording for Trumpet Records. A mix of blues, gospel and country artists signed with Trumpet, including the Southern Sons Quartette and Sonny Boy Williamson, whose harmonica playing made him famous. For blues enthusiasts, storytelling centers on colorful characters like Sonny Boy. “Sonny Boy” Williamson was the alias for Aleck Rice Miller. As a teenager, young Aleck stole a neighbor’s mule, painted it and rode out of town in an attempt to escape
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poverty. The plan apparently worked until rain washed away the paint. The story goes that he served time in prison, but used his harmonica playing to persuade a guard to let him walk away. Aleck later assumed the name Sonny Boy Williamson to conceal his true identity and capitalize on the name of a former blues man.
Sonny Boy Williamson charmed Ms McMurry as well. She later said that he “had a heart of gold in a lot of ways” (O’Neal, 1986). The cash journal recorded numerous loans and advances to SB Williamson. For example, Ms Murray said, “He would order some new suits and then have the invoice sent to my office for me to pay” (Ryan, 2004). Even as late as 1955, Sonny Boy Williamson still owed $675.47 to DRC. Despite his unpaid debt, the McMurrys paid for the tombstone that marks Sonny Boy’s grave.
Ms McMurry credited Sonny Boy for attracting other artists, including Elmo James. On August 5, 1951, Elmo James, in his only session for Trumpet Records, recorded Trumpet’s biggest single hit, Dust My Broom, which reached No. 1 on the Cashbox charts (Cashbox, 1952). James failed to provide a second single for the “B” side and Lillian added Catfish Blues to complete what has become known as classic Trumpet 146. Unlike the flamboyant Sonny Boy, Elmo James had a more introverted personality (Ryan, 2004). With James unwilling to return for additional sessions, Trumpet missed its opportunity to capitalize on the popularity of its best known single. Instead, Elmo James left Mississippi to play the bars in Chicago (Ryan, 2004). The experience with Elmo James boosted Trumpet Records sales in later years, and also foreshadowed looming challenges.
Trumpet Records held recording sessions at numerous locations around Jackson, as well as at studios in Memphis and Chicago. The DRC minute book for January 3, 1952, mentions plans to construct walls at the Record Mart. The idea was to divide Trumpet Records from Record Mart and add office space and air conditioning for the burgeoning record label. Trumpet Records had reached some measure of success and Ms McMurry saw the need for a more professional environment.
However, in January 1952, Ms McMurry learned that her competition was attempting to “steal” her artists. A former band member of a current Trumpet artist advised Lillian that a “pair of big shots from Hollywood had cruised into Greenville in a new Cadillac […] and were zeroing in on some of Lillian’s main artists” (Ryan, 2004). According to the minute book, Ms McMurry and an associate, Howard Kelly, went to a nightclub in Greenville, Mississippi to investigate the rumor. Ms McMurry had learned that the Bihari Brothers of Modern Records came to the club to record Lonnie Homes and his Darktown Boys, who were under contract with DRC. Before Lillian and Howard left Jackson, they hired a lawyer who got an injunction to prevent the recording session. Lillian’s lawyer filed a lawsuit against Modern Records, claiming one million dollars in damages. Though Trumpet had ended the recording session in Greenville, Meteor Records, owned by another Bihari brother, succeeded in stealing Elmo James. According to a minute book entry in December 1952, Leonard Chess of Chess Records advised Lillian that Plastic Products in Memphis pressed Elmo James to record for Meteor, despite James’ contract with DRC (Minute Book, 1952). At the time, Lillian’s pregnancy prevented her from investigating and Willard dispatched lawyer Bernard Chill to Memphis.
Without a permanent recording facility of its own, Trumpet Records relied on numerous locations for recording sessions. In the fall of 1952, Lillian sent a number of artists to the famed Memphis Recording Service, owned and operated by the legendary
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Sam Phillips. In late 1952, Lillian turned her attention to country music and coordinated recording sessions in Houston, Texas, in January and February 1953. Later, blues artists were also recorded at the ACA Studios in Houston (Humphreys et al., 2011).
By September 1953, mounting travel and recording costs and uncollected accounts receivable were noted in the minute book. In the September 25 entry, the McMurrys agreed to move Trumpet out of the Record Mart building and pursue the purchase of recording equipment for a studio in Jackson (Minute Book, 1953). The Trumpet discography confirms that the first recording sessions were held at State Furniture Company on October 10, 1953.
Failure of Trumpet Records Despite the financial difficulties of Trumpet Records, recording sessions continued at the State Furniture Company studios in 1954. Country artists such as “Lucky” Joe Almond and blues singers, such as Wally Mercer, recorded during this period. According to Ms McMurry, even famed old-time folk and bluegrass artists, The Carter Family, contacted her once for a contract (Hannasch, 1984).
Lillian’s best attempts in 1954 and 1955 to recapture earlier glory failed as:
[…] lesser hits had carried the momentum and the hopes for two years (since Dust My Broom in 1952), but the reversals with unfaithful artists and the failure to locate topflight new ones eroded the slight foundations that had been laid and larger competitors stole artists who gained regional successes (Ryan, 2004).
The betrayal was not limited to blues artists; country singer Werly Fairburn signed with Capital Records in Nashville (Ryan, 2004).
Without a reliable revenue source, the outstanding debt to one of Trumpet’s most important vendors became critical. The 1954 annual meeting minutes showed that DRC agreed to a lease arrangement with Plastic Products Company of Memphis, who pressed the records for Trumpet Records. Under the agreement, DRC leased masters from Trumpet #215 and # 221 (Getting Out of Town by Sonny Boy Williamson and Gonna Rock and Roll by “Lucky” Joe Almond, respectively). Plastic Products selected these specific records from the Trumpet catalog (Minute Book, 1954). Profits were deposited into a special account to pay the existing bill. Having temporarily satisfied a vital vendor, Trumpet continued to struggle through 1954.
DRC’s financial difficulties came to a climax in early 1955. By March 22, 1955, the lease arrangements with Plastic Products totaled approximately $1,000 in the special account. Lillian offered to lease other records, but the owners of Plastic Products refused her offer. Plastic Products froze DRC’s account and refused to continue shipping records. Furthermore, Mr McMurry raised the fact that additional $8,000 had been loaned to DRC since the last issuance of chattel mortgages and/or notes. The McMurrys agreed to issue additional notes from Trumpet Records to State Furniture Company, as well as transfer the contracts and masters for four of the remaining Trumpet artists to State Furniture Company.
A month later, with Trumpet’s account still frozen at Plastic Products and almost no sales, Willard declared he had extended about as far as he was willing to go. On April 22, 1955, Trumpet Records offered $1,000 to Plastic Products in full settlement of debts. Four days later, Plastic Products refused the $1,000 offer, but accepted Sonny Boy Williamson’s contract to settle the debt. Willard agreed to release the contract to Plastic Products, leaving State Furniture Company as DRC’s largest creditor. On May 15, 1955,
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Plastic Products granted the release and Willard sent workers to Memphis to pick up the remaining record inventory (Minute Book, 1955). Sonny Boy Williamson’s contract was later sold to Leonard Chess of Chess Records. Trumpet soon released the remainder of its blues and gospel artists (Ryan, 2004).
In addition to the cash journal, the summary of royalties paid during the early 1950s reflects the meteoric rise and fall of Trumpet Records. From the accounting records, Trumpet Records recognized royalties in an irregular fashion. Trumpet often recorded and paid royalties for the second half of a year with an entry in February of the succeeding year. When record sales peaked in late 1952, the royalties related to those sales were reflected in the 1953 records (see Table I for summaries of royalties paid).
Table I. Trumpet records’ summaries of royalties paid 1950-1955a
Artistsb 1950 1951 1952 1953 1954
Southern Sons Quartette($) 15.33 40.54 26.06 19.50 18.08 St. Andrews Gospelaires 3.93 – – – – Clayton Love and Shufflers 5.14 7.78 – – 0.56 Kay Kellum and His Dixie Ramblers – – 8.37 – 0.15 Sonny Boy Williamson – 157.18 326.33 913.92 522.84 Luther Huff – 34.12 (1.44) (1.01) 0.82 Argo Gospel Singers – – 12.23 26.82 3.87 Roy Harris with & Buz & Busby Orchestration – 3.06 4.80 – – Earl Reed – 1.10 – – – Rocky Jones and Texas Jacks – – 3.78 – – Willie Love – 295.06 504.04 151.80 47.42 Elmo James – – 718.49 158.31 10.56 Joe Lee Williams – – 53.48 16.78 (4.11) Tiny Kennedy – – – 87.79 (0.51) The Hodges Brothers – – 12.51 (3.65) (1.37) Cowboy Jim and His Range Riders – – – 202.03 105.58 Werly Fairburn – – – 22.95 (2.77) Bro. Hugh Dent – – – 107.75 38.36 Beverly White – – – 1.86 (1.79) Luke McDaniels – – – 31.14 (6.01) Arthur & Big Boy & Crudup (also known as Elmer James) – – – 89.75 (5.64) Sherman Johnson – – – 35.03 (8.42) Lucky Joe Almond – – – 96.35 121.07 Bill Blevins – – – 20.33 (0.27) Tex Dean – – – 19.28 (3.42) Tag Williams – – – 152.08 (16.76) Blue Jay Singers – – – 5.07 3.37 Carolina Kings of Harmony – – – – 6.97 Don & Red & Barry – – – – 10.80 Jerry & Boogie & McCain – – – – 28.80 Wally Mercer – – – – – Total Annual Royalties Paid($) 24.40 538.84 1,668.65 2,153.88 868.18
Notes: a In many cases, Trumpet Records applied royalties to outstanding advances or loans to the artists; b names of primary artists are included here. Other featured artists are excluded for simplicity
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In March, 1956, Jack Dykman presented an idea to the McMurrys which entailed the opening of a second office location just across the previous location of the Dixie Furniture. He would be in charge of the new office, receive 25 per cent “bonus”. The McMurrys were elated and Willard offered the new enterprise $10,000 worth of furniture and a cash loan of $2,000. The 1956 Minute Book showed that these initial efforts proved successful. On July 9, 1956, the minute book reported “Dixie Salvage Company is growing every day; Mr Dykman was doing a good job on learning to keep the books of Dixie and all of the directors were pleased”. Dixie’s first year of success offered hope in paying off DRC’s old debts, as reported in the March 19, 1957 minutes:
Diamond Record Co’s recording operations losses of $13,381.52 but that Diamond’s subsidiary, Dixie Furniture and Salvage Co, had made $13, 876.70 for the year 1956 and that Mr Dykman’s accumulated bonus of 25 per cent and his $420.00 on the truck investment had netted Mr Dykman $3,584.82, which left DRC making a net income of $10,291.88 from Dixie Furniture and Salvage Co.
By investing in a business they knew, the McMurrys sought a safe avenue to recover from their losses in the music industry.
By the next March, however, the situation at Dixie Furniture had changed and became dire. Compared to the 8 months of operation in 1956 and the 12 months of operation in 1957 were Dixie Furniture, made gains of $10,291.99 and $9,011.25, respectively, in 1958 “it did not make as much money” (Minute Book, 1958). Consequently, the accountant recommended an inventory be taken in the middle of the year of 1958 to determine the company’s progress in 1958. On June 30, 1958, the inventory was completed and Ms McMurry was advised to go through Dixie’s financial records promptly. By December 30, 1958, “Ms McMurry said she had not done the inventory back June because of various personal encumbrances; she just had not found the time to do this” (Minute Book, 1958).
For the year-end inventory, Willard called Mr Dykman to tell him, “Don’t take inventory until I get there”. However, Mr McMurry noted that Dykman had taken inventory before his arrival. After his inspection, Willard noted some inventory overstatements and made appropriate corrections. Willard “did not believe Dixie made a dime in 1958.” Mr Dykman disagreed with that position (Minute Book, 1959).
On May 8, the accountant reported that Dixie lost over $4,000 in 1958. “The McMurrys were shocked”. They devised a plan to gain access to Dixie’s records without Mr Dykman’s knowledge. To verify Dykman’s accounting records, the McMurrys contacted a number of known Dixie Furniture customers to gather details about their purchases On May 20, Willard sent Dykman to an auction house in New Orleans to sell old “junker stoves”, giving the upholsterer the day off. During their investigation of Dixie’s books on May 21, a number of furniture sales reported by customers could not be traced back to the sale books. By May 29, the McMurrys and their accountant agreed that misappropriations had occurred and they “had a law case on (their) hands but it would be better to employ an accountant to audit the books” (Minute Book 1959).
On July 6, 1959, Mr Dykman closed the store for business. He sent word to Willard that he was waiting for him at the store. Mr McMurry went with the auditor to assess Dykman’s needs:
Mr Dykman would say nothing but just tried to hand in the key […] Before taking the key, Willard asked him if he wouldn’t consider staying on at Dixie at least until the audit was through. He did not even answer – just handed over the key.
11
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The McMurrys filed a lawsuit against Jack Dykman and received a judgment for $9,848.14 approximately two years later (Minute Book, 1959).
Other than results of the lawsuit, no significant activity occurred between 1959 and 1964. In 1964, DRC returned its corporate charter and ceased to exist (Minute Book, 1959-1964). Beyond these numbers alone, however, our analysis of Trumpet Records also suggests that an additional complication was the competing entrepreneurial and moral accountabilities felt by Ms McMurry.
Analytically structured history of conflicting accountabilities faced by Lillian McMurry Entrepreneurs are primarily accountable to their stakeholders (Bucar et al., 2003; Collewaert and Fassin, 2013). However, stakeholders sometimes espouse demands that are incongruent to the entrepreneur’s principles (Janney, 2015; Murphy et al., 2006). These incongruences are particularly conflicting when they are related to the entrepreneur’s moral principles (Buchholz and Rosenthal, 2005; Solymossy and Masters, 2002), “core goodness traits” (Piazza et al., 2014, p. 528) and personal ideals of a virtuous character (Hannafey, 2003; Smothers et al., 2014). In situations of such incongruences, the entrepreneur needs to balance the relaxation of the commitment to his or her moral principles with the risk of not conforming to the stakeholder demands (Harmeling et al., 2009; Steinbauer et al., 2014). In other words, the entrepreneur strives to balance the individual accountability felt toward his or her own ideal self (i.e. good/ virtuous person) with the entrepreneurial accountability felt toward his or her venture’s stakeholders (Fisscher et al., 2005; Martin and Novicevic, 2010).
Managing/balancing this tradeoff can be cognitively and emotionally taxing, as it elicits a conflicting tension between the entrepreneur’s moral and economic values (Harris et al., 2009). This tension is likely to reduce the entrepreneur’s subjective control over the venture’s success because the entrepreneur may either remain rigidly committed to his or her moral principles, or engage in rule bending relative to conformance to the stakeholder demands (Pies et al., 2009). The rule bending may appear inevitable when simultaneously managing multiple contradictory stakeholder demands (Baron et al., 2015; Novicevic et al., 2013).
In this study, we construct an analytically structured history narrative (Rowlinson et al., 2014) to assess how Lillian McMurry felt incongruent accountabilities as she acted as a producer and owner of Trumpet Records (Humphreys et al., 2011). We posit that the incongruence was enhanced by the fact that she was a white woman living in Mississippi in the 1950s and had to search for potential African-American performers from bars to churches (Ryan, 2004), thus inevitably breaking multiple moral and legal codes governing life in Mississippi in those times. We argue the incongruence of her accountabilities likely had a negative impact on Lillian’s decision-making in terms of being able to exhibit due accountability toward the needs of Trumpet’s stakeholders.
For example, certain internal (e.g. artists such as Samuel Williamson) and external stakeholders (e.g. Chess Records), which played a crucial role in the initial success of Trumpet Records, eventually engendered an excessive sense of McMurry’s felt entrepreneurial accountability, thereby pressuring her to start prioritizing her interactions based on her perceptions of her control of important resources and the legitimacy of their claims.
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Lillian McMurry had to prioritize her interactions when supporting the success of her musicians on one hand and, on the other hand, ensuring the success of her venture (i.e. Trumpet Records) because the quickly developing music industry (Humphreys et al., 2011) included many entrepreneurial independent label companies infamous for poaching successful performers (e.g. Meteor Records and Modern Records owned by the Bihari brothers). Therefore, McMurry had to give priority to the loyalty of her performers. Sometimes, this meant protecting her rights through the courts. For example, in its February 9, 1952, issue, Cashbox ran the following item (Ryan 2004, pp. 99-100):
JACKSON, MISS. – The Diamond Record Company, with headquarters in this city, instituted suit on January 28 against Modern Records and Jules and Joe Bihari, for allegedly inducing artists who were under exclusive contract to Diamond to break their contract. Diamond is asking $1,000,000 damages […]. The complaint also alleges that other artists under contract to Diamond have been approached by the defendants to break their agreements […]. A second count of the complaint charges that the Biharis conspired with Lonnie Holmes and his group for the purpose of appropriating songs which were written by members of the group at a time when they were under contract to Diamond […].
McMurry managed to survive these rustling attacks competitively due to the support of her husband, Willard McMurry, who was not only the financier of the operation but also a patron and an employer of several musicians contracted to Trumpet Records (Ryan, 2004, p. 207). Thus, Willard was a key stakeholder of the entrepreneurial venture.
A litany of examples from the Trumpet archives can be offered to demonstrate the entrepreneurial accountabilities of Lillian McMurry. As an entrepreneur in the record industry, she was responsible for common activities such as following the appropriate steps in renewing contracts with her artists, paying a consideration fee of $10 to renew a contract agreement with Sonny Boy Williamson to support the legality of a previously expired contract (Trumpet Records, Box 5, 5.2 – 12/14/1951). Lillian paid the consideration fee and Sonny Boy Williamson renewed his contract with DRC (Trumpet Records, Box 5, 5.2):
In consideration of the Ten Dollars ($10.00) cash paid by Diamond Record Company, Inc. to Willie (Sonny Boy) Williamson and other valuable considerations, the receipt and sufficiency of which are hereby acknowledged, it is agreed by the parties hereto the contract entered into between them December 14, 1950, including the amendment thereof made May 11, 1951, is renewed in all of its terms and provisions for a period of twelve months from this date.
Also common to the record industry, Lillian McMurry was accountable for the many issues related to the ownership of recordings. For instance, she was responsible for initiating inquiries into copyrights and authorizing lawyers to make searches and render opinions on existence of songs copyrighted by or assigned to DRC. Such issues related to ownership of recordings occurred regularly with regard to the assignment of individual songs. For example, in a letter dated October 23, 1951, Lillian McMurry sent an inquiry to Algonquin Music Corporation concerning the assignment of the record “Eye Sight to the Blind” with request for response within 10 days (Trumpet Records, Box 5, 5.48):
On May 24, 1951, an assignment and agreement was made and entered into between Diamond Record Company and Algonquin Music Corporation of and concerning the musical composition, “Eye Sight To The Blind.” A period of six months has now lapsed since this
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agreement was entered into and we feel that a report or statement should now be rendered concerning the composition above referred to. Therefore, we request that Diamond Record Company be furnished the following.
As a result, Algonquin Music Incorporated responded (October 29, 1951) with an explanation but without the required accounting statement (Trumpet Records, Box 5, 5.48):
This is to advise you that our royalty statements are due February 15th and August 15th which cover the six month periods ending December 31st and June 30th.
In keeping with her entrepreneurial accountabilities, Ms McMurry responded and demanded the presentation a formal accounting statement, together with the “remittance of amounts due on each August 15, covering the six months’ period prior to and ending June 30, of each year” which were long due for submission (Trumpet Records, Box 5, 5.48). In addition, Lillian McMurry’s entrepreneurial accountability is also exemplified by the initiation, composition and evolution of various contract agreements. From the Trumpet Records collection (Box 5, 5.48), readers can observe the consistent iteration of such agreements:
Dear Mrs McMurry: In going over your contract there are two changes that I would like you to make. First, is the five cent (5c) royalty for each copy sold and paid for anywhere in the world. The five cent royalty is okay in the USA but if I find it necessary to make a deal in Europe with another publisher and he only pays me five cents per copy I cannot give it to you […] Secondly, it is impossible for me to pay anyone and never have paid anyone up to the present time for radio performances for I have a guarantee to receive a set sum from BMI for operation purposes.
Dear Mr Mellin: Last Tuesday I talked to our pressing in Memphis, Tenn. and the manager told me that one of the Bahari boys […] was going to record Eyesight To The Blind by Joe Hill Louis. Maybe you had better check on it if he has not already contacted you. Also, I suppose you know long before now that the Orioles have already recorded it in Apollo. I know that Apollo has already contacted some of the distributors in the South and some of the distributors told me that they were not going to handle the Orioles number since our record was and still is doing so well, but I feel that since it is a higher class rendition that it will definitely sell to another class of people. Here’s is hoping we make lots of money and looking forward to your trip down […].
This correspondence resulted in a request by Sanford Green of Robert Mellin Music Publishing Corp. for the five-year financials of Globe Music Corp which resulted in a prompt stern reply by Ms McMurry connoting her felt entrepreneurial accountabilities (Trumpet Records, Box 5, 5.48):
Dear Mr Green: Your request, for the list of financials in your letter of July 12, 1973, registered as completely disgusting to Globe since, due to Mellin’s own non-feasance, Mellin is, in great part, the reason Globe has not taken in much monies […] We estimate there is $100,000 due Globe from all sources and the future potentials of this entire catalogue to be tremendous […] Failure to hear from you on or before August 6, 1973, for a very early, definite appointment to listen to the tapes will cause us to present, as planned earlier, the corporation stock to other prospects.
Even a casual reading of the Trumpet Record archives indicates that Lillian McMurry took her entrepreneurial accountabilities and commercial commitments seriously.
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However, Ms McMurry also demonstrated exceptional moral integrity, which magnified her perceived personal commitments to her artists (Humphreys et al., 2013). Moreover, whereas some (Audi and Murphy, 2006) would consider integrity as adjunctive virtue (i.e. neither inherently good nor bad from a moral perspective), Lillian McMurry’s self-perception of personal integrity and rectitude was based on her understanding of substantive virtue (i.e. honesty, fairness, trustworthiness, etc. (Humphreys et al., 2011) as the foundation of her character and conduct (Schlenker, 2008). As a result of her strong virtue ethics perspective (Whetstone, 2001), Lillian McMurry was suffused with intense feelings of moral accountability.
Because of her characterization of “good” character, her “self-definition” (Aquino et al., 2007, p. 386) of integrity was consistent with being a responsible entrepreneurial steward (Humphreys et al., 2013). Ms McMurry was extraordinarily honest in her dealings with artists (Humphreys et al., 2011) and Martin (2007) described her remarkable sense of fairness with respect to those within her sphere of entrepreneurial influence. Ryan (2004, p. 165) declared:
I like to think that when all is said and done […], if there is a Hall of Fame for Good Human Beings, “Miss Lillian” will have a special niche there […].
Our review of the Trumpet Record archives supports these assertions. As evidence, she was so much trusted that her most famous artist (Ryan, 2004) entrusted her with power of attorney for all of his business dealings (Trumpet Records, Box 5, 5.48):
That I Willie “Sonny Boy” Williamson of 309 North Farish Street, Jackson, Mississippi, (Business Address) do hereby constitute and appoint Lillian Shedd McMurry, my attorney-in-fact to do any lawful and/or legal act for and on behalf of me, which I can (or could) for, including but not limited to the execution of any and all contracts, deeds, notes, mortgages or other instruments, with full power and authority to do and perform all and every act requisite and necessary to be done in and about the premises. WITNESS my signature, this the 24th day of March 1953.
In addition, even as she attempted to satisfy her entrepreneurial accountabilities, she often did so for the sake of her artists, sometimes even to the detriment of her entrepreneurial venture (Humphreys et al., 2011). For example, some 25 years after Trumpet Records had closed, Lillian McMurry still worked diligently to account for financial statements to ensure that copyright renewals were made, and royalties would be paid to her artists or their heirs (Trumpet Records, Box 5, 5.48 – dated 9/11.1980,). Furthermore, this effort was not an isolated event. Tracing Ms McMurry’s activities through the years after Trumpet Records ceased to exist, numerous examples can be provided of her focus on her self-perceived moral accountabilities. Another compelling example is her search for a proper address for the widow of Willie Love (letter dated 10/18/1971, Trumpet Records, Box 4, 4.38) and a similar example was her unsuccessful search for her former artist Jesse “Tiny” Kenney (letter dated 10/10/1971, Trumpet Records, Box 4, 4.25):
Mr Elridge “Steve” R. Johnson is head of the Shakeroot company and will pay your royalties. Please send your phone number or nearest one to get in touch with you […]. Please contact me as soon as possible so I can give Mr Johnson your address.
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Many of her efforts were successful, though, as evidenced by the following correspondence where Ms. McMurry sends a check to Mattie Williamson (Sonny Boy Williamson’s widow), paying outstanding royalties owed by Globe Music Corporation to her late husband, Sonny Boy Williamson (Trumpet Records, Box 5, 5.16):
Enclosed herewith is our statement accompanied by check for monies due your late husband, Willie “Sonny Boy” Williamson, for his share of our collections on his musical compositions […].
Lillian McMurry felt her moral accountabilities well beyond royalties, however. Humphreys et al. (2011) indicate that her “faithfulness to her artists can […] be seen in the numerous loans she provided, often at times when her own finances were suspect […]”. While Lillian is remembered for providing the headstone for Sonny Boy Williamson’s grave upon his death (Ryan, 2004), her felt moral accountability also prompted her to pay for his medical care, transportation expenses of $10 for a conference, and advise him on the time to phone her (Trumpet Records, Box 5, 5.38). Ms McMurry took moral accountability even further than just with her artists. For example, her paternalistic instincts (Humphreys et al., 2013) were extended to the family members of her artists (Trumpet Records, Box 5, 5.36):
I received your letter of Feb. 18 and was certainly sorry to know that Mattie is sick. I will send Mattie the $100 you asked for around the 12th of March. It is possible that I can send it before then, but I can’t promise, since we are now broke and we will just have to see if any money comes in before then. With best regards to you both, I remain, Yours truly, DIAMOND RECORD COMPANY, Lillian McMurry.
Along this line, the archived materials show that Lillian McMurry still felt an obligation to advise Mattie Williamson (Thurman) on tax filing matters even in the early 1980s (Trumpet Records, Box 5, 5.45):
Mattie, I do not know what form to use for your situation nor the schedules that would have to be filled out and attached for all the source and deductibles […]. I do know that if you and the Rev. filed joint return in 1981, that you should have reported your earnings with his (but you may have put all the BMI monies in and that was not proper because BMI had reclaimed it). I thought this over and can only advise on the following: That you go to CERTIFIED PUBLIC ACCOUNTANT, called CPA, who is supposed to know all the tax laws and how to handle complex situations […]. Please don’t try to fill out the forms yourself when and if you get proper ones.
Discussion from the constructed narrative Lillian McMurry was an ethical entrepreneur who took great pride in good character (Humphreys et al., 2011), demanded it from others (Ryan, 2004) and maintained an incredible sense of authenticity and fairness in leading those around her (Martin, 2007). She was pragmatic in terms of securing economic interest of her venture, but, because of her intense felt moral accountability, she was committed to paying royalties to various artists’ decades after the Trumpet Record label had ceased to exist (Ryan, 2004). Our archival analysis of her handling of these simultaneous, yet conflicting pressures to maintain her moral standards while pursuing her self-interest provides an opportunity to derive a synthesis and develop a broader understanding of entrepreneurial ethics and leadership both in practical and theoretical accountability terms (Table II).
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A major theoretical insight that can be synthesized from our findings is that a major risk may be engendered for a venture when the entrepreneur moralizes an issue (e.g. McMurry moralizing the issue of artist loyalty), while the majority of actors in the industry dismiss this issue as non-moral, justifying their stance by the need to insure freedom of artists to pursue better opportunities. Bandura (1986) explains this stance positing that moral self-regulation processes (i.e. self-monitoring processes, self-judgmental process and self-reactive mechanisms) guide entrepreneurial moral behavior. However, these processes can sometime be deactivated by the entrepreneur’s propensity to disengage morally and pursue unethical behavior (Baron et al., 2015). Moral disengagement occurs typically in ambiguous situations that are likely to prompt the entrepreneur to deactivate moral self-regulatory processes, thus suppressing moral identity and allowing one to feel free of guilt or any need for self-sanctioning (Bandura, 1986, 1999; Detert et al., 2008).
Table II. Applied and
conceptual insights emerging from the Trumpet Records
case
Primary accountability issues raised by the Trumpet Records case
Applied implications for contemporary entrepreneurs
Conceptual questions to be answered by future research
Entrepreneurs are accountable to their stakeholders. However, stakeholders sometimes make demands that are incongruent with the entrepreneur’s moral principles and/or personal ideals
As a result, entrepreneurs must prioritize and balance individual accountability to personal principles with the entrepreneurial accountability felt toward multiple external stakeholders
Researchers must conceptualize and develop tools to help entrepreneurs correctly evaluate and define these incongruences, as well as prioritize legitimacy, to advance measures and processes that should be taken to maintain balance
Such incongruence requires entrepreneurs to continually face a simultaneous conflicting tension between personal moral and economic values
Entrepreneurs must develop an effective strategy for managing such a cognitively and emotionally taxing balancing act
Conceptually, researchers must offer guidance as to how to approach, develop and implement such a strategy
Although rigidly adhering to individual ideals of virtue ethics or, conversely, external stakeholder desires, may reduce the angst associated with cognitive and emotional balancing, doing so also brings excessive risk for the individual or commercial venture, respectively
A rigid focus on goodness traits can lead an entrepreneur to moralize, which could negatively impact the venture and its stakeholders. Conversely, an overly skewed prioritization toward economic values can increase the risk of moral disengagement. Thus, an obstructionist stance may be needed to balance moral and entrepreneurial accountabilities
A Kantian deontological idea of virtue can lead to moralizing of issues, which creates risk for the firm. A more Machiavellian perspective, however, might create analogous risk at individual and organizational levels. Philosophically, researchers must answer the question of how these risks can be assessed, balanced and mitigated
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In industries with weak regulation and property rights, as the record industry was in the 1950s, entrepreneurs tend to deactivate their self-regulatory processes and disengage morally through “moral justification” (what is allegedly good for artists justified the practice of artist poaching by independent label companies) or “diffusion of responsibility” (everybody in the industry does it because the practice of artist poaching affects only a small number of entrepreneurs and hence should be overlooked – White et al., 2009, p. 47). The extent of these morally disengaging processes depends on the entrepreneur’s balancing of two strong, often conflicting motives (motivation for financial gains of the venture and motivation for self-realization as the moral ideal – Baron et al., 2015). In the case of Trumpet Records, Lillian McMurry was mostly driven by self-realization as the owner of an independent record label and, as a result, she did not garner sufficient financial resources to fight market penetration and artist poaching activities by larger established recording labels.
Our findings contribute to a richer conceptualization of authentic leadership by adding a philosophical foundation to the insight made by Humphreys et al. (2011). Using archival evidence, Humphreys et al. (2011) examined the leadership style of Lillian McMurry and found that her style had combined characteristics of charismatic, constructive narcissistic and authentic leadership styles. Lillian was narcissistic in her urge and disposition to control (Kets de Vries, 1996) activities of Trumpet Records and subsequently Globe Music Company (Minute Book, 1952). These activities ranged from searching for new and upcoming artists, to negotiating contract agreements with recording labels (e.g. when Trumpet Records’ master tapes were burned during a fire incident and she had to rebuild her business from scratch), and deciding the percentage of royalties earned by each artist (Ryan, 2004). Humphreys et al. (2011) assessed that she was a constructive narcissist (Rosenthal and Pittinsky, 2006) – difficult to approach, yet with an authentic commitment and dedication to support the success of her artists thereby earning their loyalty and respect. An illustrative instance of her authenticity occurred when a former artist (Sherman Johnson) begged her to accept him back (Hannusch and McMurry, 1984); Lillian refused because loyalty was an important authentic principle by which she lived.
Our archival analysis presented in this study indicates that she was an authentic leader, bound by the adopted Kantian deontological principles of virtue to remain morally consistent irrespective of the situation and/or consequence (Dierksmeier, 2013; Lesser, 2014). Lillian displayed an “adjunctive virtue”, refused to behave unethically under any circumstance and actively resisted unethical practices of her rivals (e.g. the poaching attempt of the Bihari Brothers to steal her star artist Elmo James). Adjunctive virtue is the behavioral alignment of integrity between an individual’s spoken words and actual deeds (Palanski and Yammarino, 2009). As a virtuous entrepreneur, McMurry was:
• a benevolent leader who cared for her flock of followers (i.e. her artists) by putting their interests above hers;
• a responsible ethical steward who safeguarded the economic interests, needs and social concerns of her artists by paying all royalties due to them even after Trumpet Records folded (Humphreys et al., 2013); and
• an authentic leader whose exemplary integrity has been praised for many years after her death (Ryan, 2004).
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A major practical implication that can be synthesized from her case is that (Volkman and Berg’s, 2012, p. 21):
the entrepreneur bears profound responsibility not only for his venture but also for the way he manages his venture with a wider ethical perspective to staff, stakeholders, and also to society and culture. Being able to understand and alter the rules of business also implies the necessity to consider the overall effects.
As argued by Vitell et al. (2000, p. 23), “small business owners and managers, individually and collectively, have an opportunity to elevate the overall level of ethical standards within their industries”. They share the responsibility of setting up and adhering to broadly defined and socially accepted ethical principles. However, when facing a moral dilemma, like the one that Lillian McMurry experienced, an entrepreneur “seems condemned to moral failure; no matter what she does, she will do something wrong (or fail to do something that she ought to do)” (McConnell, 2010, cited in Volkman and Berg, 2012, p. 4). In this situation, it appears to be more practical to take a Machiavellian point of view (Lesser, 2014) from an alternative perspective by applying a reflective judgment to consider whether more flexible moral principles would be more productive for the venture.
Contributions, limitations and future research With our analysis of the historical case study of Lillian McMurry and Trumpet Records, we contribute to theory and practice within the domain of conflicting moral and entrepreneurial accountabilities felt by those attempting to lead entrepreneurial ventures. Through our interpretive narrative, we provide applied lessons for contemporary entrepreneurs, as well raise critical theoretical questions. Specifically, even though advocates of virtue ethics advise that a personal character outlook should be exalted to more outcome-based ethical decision-making approaches, our analysis suggests that such a virtue-based perspective could lead to an imbalance in the tensions between moral and entrepreneurial accountabilities. We argue that cultivating specific virtues and using them as the foundation for ethical decision-making could be challenging in an entrepreneurial context due to these competing accountabilities.
As for future research in this domain, finding the moral mean of the tensions between the conflicting accountabilities may be particularly challenging for women entrepreneurs because they are more likely to be stereotyped to moralize business issues (Robinson et al., 2007). Therefore, stakeholders may be biased to perceive women entrepreneurs as antagonistic and consequently impose more rigid demands upon their venture. Women are also often viewed as less likely to perceive the bending of moral rules as legitimate to accommodate business demands. It is possible that this could make the felt moral accountability of female entrepreneurs much “stickier” to change than their corresponding felt entrepreneurial accountability, skewing their pursuit of accountability in a detrimental way. Thus, moralizing may make the ventures of entrepreneurial women more vulnerable to failure due to incongruent accountabilities and the resultant moral tensions and potential distress (Venkataraman, 2002).
The chief limitation of any single case study can be the issue of generalizability. Still, interpretive studies of historical cases can often provide more compelling insights than empirical studies can advance (Siggelkow, 2007). Consequently, for our study, we accepted the tradeoff between limited generalizability and the powerful insights
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associated with the method (Siggelkow, 2007). We argue that our analysis of the historical case of Lillian McMurry and Trumpet Records offers significant conceptual and practical insights for entrepreneurs in the current milieu and ask readers to consider the plausibility of our discernment accordingly.
Conclusion In this article, we used the research strategy of analytically structured history to examine the tensions between the moral and entrepreneurial accountabilities of Lillian McMurry, the entrepreneurial force behind Trumpet Records, a 1950’s Mississippi Delta Blues record label. Using archival historical method, we analyzed how these tensions influenced the initial success and eventual failure of Trumpet Records, and to explore the consequences when moral accountabilities dominate entrepreneurial accountabilities. Proponents of virtue ethics suggest that a personal character perspective is more fundamental than traditional, consequentialist ethical approaches. However, based upon our narrative analysis, we argue that cultivating specific virtues and using them as the foundation for ethical decision-making could be challenging in an entrepreneurial context due to competing accountabilities.
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About the authors Jack L. Winstead (PhD, University of Mississippi) is an Assistant Professor in the Accountancy Department at The Truman State University. His research interests include accounting information systems, auditing, cost/managerial, accounting history, and pedagogical topics. He holds a CPA license (Inactive) in Tennessee and a Certified Information Systems Auditor certificate from ISACA.
Milorad M. Novicevic (PhD, University of Oklahoma) is an Associate Professor of Management at the University of Mississippi where he teaches a PhD course in Management History. His research focuses on the areas of management history, management education and international management. He has published more than 100 articles in various peer-reviewed journals including the Leadership Quarterly, Academy of Management Learning and Education, Management & Organizational History, Human Relations and Journal of Management History.
John H. Humphreys (DBA, Nova Southeastern University) is a Professor of Management at Texas A&M University – Commerce. His work has appeared in numerous venues including the Harvard Business Review, Human Relations, Journal of Management History, MIT Sloan Management Review, Business Horizons, Management Decision, Thunderbird International Business Review, Journal of Management Inquiry, Journal of Leadership & Organizational Studies, Leadership & Organization Development Journal and the Journal of Services Marketing. John H. Humphreys is the corresponding author and can be contacted at: john. [email protected]
Ifeoluwa Tobi Popoola is an Instructor and second-year doctoral student in Management at the University of Mississippi and has co-authored a book chapter. His research interest is focused on the role of Accountability in Leadership, Entrepreneurship, Educational and Workplace domains. He holds a Certified Information Systems Auditor certificate from ISACA.
For instructions on how to order reprints of this article, please visit our website: www.emeraldgrouppublishing.com/licensing/reprints.htm Or contact us for further details: [email protected]
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