Conceptions of God, normative convictions and socially responsible business conduct: An explorative study among executives

Abstract

The case for socially responsible business conduct is often made from an economical or ethical perspective with the organization as level of analysis. This paper focuses on the relationship between the religious belief of corporate decision-makers and socially responsible business conduct. Based on in-depth interviews with twenty Dutch executives from different religious backgrounds, we find much inductive evidence of a relationship between their conception of God, norms and values and business conduct. We also find that executives with a monotheistic conception of God display a stronger orientation toward socially responsible business conduct than executives with a pantheistic conception of God.Socially responsible business conduct; religion; values; ethics; leadership