The Monastic Family: Relevance of the Benedictines to Family Entrepreneurship

Abstract

Benedictine organizations operate in a variety of industries and are found worldwide. A uniting feature of Benedictine monasteries is the Rule of Saint Benedict, which provides the guidance and inspiration for the lives of the monks and nuns. This ancient text provides multiple life, business, and entrepreneurial lessons. Characterized by approximately 1,500 year histories, the Benedictines demonstrate remarkable longevity, utilizing entrepreneurial practices rooted in a strong ethical framework. We establish how the Benedictines function as families and propose that Benedictine communities, their history, and long-term entrepreneurial activities may be considered as a form of family entrepreneurship. Further, we explore how the functioning of the Benedictine family influences their family business endeavors and derive important lessons that we can learn from the Benedictines. This research contributes in several important ways as we offer a novel perspective of family entrepreneurship in the monastic context, integrate various theoretical and conceptual perspectives from family social science, family business, and entrepreneurship to critically analyze the Benedictine monastic family, and investigate the exemplar of generations of mission-driven, socially entrepreneurial Benedictines to offer practical implications. Scholars, family businesses, and entrepreneurs all may learn from the rich, seasoned experience of the Benedictines and utilize their values-driven strategies in modern ways by deploying these well-tested ideas into practice. Keywords: ethics, family business, entrepreneurship, Rule of St. Benedict