Spirituality as motivation and perspective for a socially responsible entrepreneurship

Abstract

I consider spirituality to be the kind of motivation and broader, meaning-seeking perspective, that, wherever it may come from, gives people motivations and concerns that is far beyond their nearest material interests. The idea of a connection between spirituality (morality, culture, religion) and economic performance will be discussed as: a) ‘spiritual capital’ (Berger and Redding), i.e., ‘a set of resources stemming from religion’; b) as the focal point for combining work and joyful experience of being (‘flow’) by coordination of mental models of people’ (Csikszentmihalyi); c) the encouragement and implementation of spirituality in the workplace (Mitroff and Denton) aiming to reveal the deepest sources of everyday creativity and meaningful life. The paper aims to provide arguments for business leaders as entrepreneurs to find inspiration in spirituality to go beyond narrow material interests.