Christian Ethics and Spirituality in Leading Business Organizations: Editorial Introduction

Abstract

Christian ethics applied to economics and business has a long tradition. This dates back at least to the thirteenth century, with noteworthy developments in the four following centuries and again in the last century. Christian faith and reason intertwine to bring about principles, criteria, and guidelines for action and a set of virtues with relevance for economic activity. Christian spirituality, with 2000 years of history, has been embedded in Christianity from its beginning, but the application to modern business activity is relatively recent. This article introduces a special issue which, we hope, will make its own small contribution to the developments of both Christian ethics and spirituality in the leading business organizations. After a short historical overview and a consideration of the current situation of Christian ethics and spirituality in business, we introduce the papers selected for this issue.

The impact of religiosity on earnings quality: International evidence from the banking sector

“…Religion provides a mechanism through which social norms, such as honesty and risk aversion, are promoted to influence behaviours ( Dyreng, Mayew, & Williams, 2012 ). With the promulgation of a joint set of principles and beliefs by influential religions, this can be presumed to be a set of code of actions and virtues for good ethical behaviour ( Melé & Fontrodona, 2017 ). As such, religious norms interact with individuals as well as corporate decision-making in promoting an anti-manipulative ethos that covers earnings management practices ( Callen & Fang, 2015 ; Iannaccone, 1998 ; McGuire et al, 2012 ).…”

An analysis of business ethics in the cultural contexts of different religions

“…As Melé and Frontrodona (2017) suggest that, Christianity, like other religions, involves many ethical principles for business and fosters virtues, bringing together significant concepts widely employed in business ethics currently, such as human dignity or stewardship of natural resources. Also, as Cui and Jo (2019) have evidenced, Christian religiosity encourages managers to embrace human rights.…”

Articulating Values Through Identity Work: Advancing Family Business Ethics Research

“…Religion is thus likely to impact personal and organizational approaches to ethics (Van Buren et al, 2019). Research on the actual effect of personal religiousness on business practices has however, resulted in ambiguous answers (see Calkins, 2000;Melé & Fontrodona, 2017;Weaver & Agle, 2002) with no clear association between high religiosity and high (or low) business ethics (Longenecker et al, 2004;Rashid & Ibrahim, 2008).…”