Purpose
This paper aims to check the presence of such relationship in the field. Certain values are at stake for the success of economic behavior. Since the genesis of modern capitalism, a set of beliefs proper of Calvinism (mainly Predestination but also Beruf, inner-worldly asceticism, role of Sects […] ) was said by Max Weber to cause an anxiety about salvation and generate a propensity to economic success as a sign of election. The author argues on the contrary that the Calvinist belief in the Perpetual Assurance of Salvation might cause a sense of self-efficacy able to favor economic success. To observe this in action today, it is crucial to consider the evolution that the Protestant ethic went through migrating first in North America and, finally, through the Protestant revival of China. Wenzhou is called “Jerusalem of China” for its large Protestant community that is also strongly involved in business. Some scholar already pointed out the presence among those entrepreneurs of this Protestant ethic (Yi Xiang, Boss-Christian […]).
Design/methodology/approach
The data presented in this comparative qualitative study pertain to ethnographic observations, job-shadowing and interviews done among Chinese Christian and non-Christian entrepreneurs from Wenzhou living in Milan, Italy.
Findings
The results show, with some adjustments, the presence of a Chinese version of the Protestant ethic overlapping with several values proper to the Chinese context (Confucianism, lineage, social network). The extension of the study to other cases must be done with caution considering the non-causal justificatory role of the belief.
Originality/value
Successful entrepreneurship involves specific social, cultural and even religious aspects that move beyond mere business strategies.
This article takes up the question of how the Poor Waldensians of Lyon, a predecessor of the medieval Franciscan movement, managed to become one of the main Reformed ecclesiastical bodies starting from the sixteenth century. The Italian Waldensians are an interesting ecclesiological case since during the time of the Protestant Reformation they underwent a significant transformation, from a nomadic and sectarian heterodox group to an ordered Reformed church body inserted within the broader international network of Reformed churches. This meant their survival through the support of Protestant diplomacy and public opinion, opening a door for Protestantism in the stronghold of Roman Catholicism. Their ideological move was not without changes on many ecclesiological points (Scriptures, sacraments, justification, etc.), in addition to the abandonment of their former pauperistic roots. The study shows how struggling religious minorities can at times undergo essential changes in order to guarantee their survival.
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