Introduction

Dandelion, Pink; Angell, Stephen W.

doi:10.1017/cbo9781107279575.002

Cited by 1 publication

(1 citation statement)

References 0 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…. affirmed business as a godly behaviour" (Angell and Dandelion, 2017, p. 2) and recent research by Fincham (2017) indicates that Quakers were actively attracted to the world of business and made a positive choice to operate in it. Although they made up only c.0.2% of the population, Quaker "businesses dominated the list of top firms in Britain in the eighteenth century" (Da Silva Lopes, 2016, p. 461).…”

Section: The Market Placementioning

confidence: 99%

Quaker accountability regimes: the case of the Richardson family networks, 1840–1914

McLean

McGovern²,

Slack³

et al. 2022

AAAJ

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

PurposeThis paper aims to explore the development of the accountability ideals and practices of Quaker industrialists during the period 1840–1914.Design/methodology/approachThe research employs a case study approach and draws on the extensive archives of Quaker industrialists in the Richardson family networks, British Parliamentary Papers and the Religious Society of Friends together with relevant contemporary and current literature.FindingsFriends shed their position as Enemies of the State and obtained status and accountabilities undifferentiated from those of non-Quakers. The reciprocal influences of an increasingly complex business environment and radical changes in religious beliefs and practices combined to shift accountabilities from the Quaker Meeting House to newly established legal accountability mechanisms. Static Quaker organisation structures and accountability processes were ineffective in a rapidly changing world. Decision-making was susceptible to the domination of the large Richardson family networks in the Newcastle Meeting House. This research found no evidence of Quaker corporate social accountability through action in the Richardson family networks and it questions the validity of this concept. The motivations underlying Quakers’ personal philanthropy and social activism were multiple and complex, extending far beyond accountabilities driven by religious belief.Originality/valueThis research has originality and value as a study of continuity and change in Quaker accountability regimes during a period that encompassed fundamental changes in Quakerism and its orthopraxy, and their business, social and political environments.

show abstract

Section: The Market Placementioning

confidence: 99%