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Religiosity, spirituality and ethical decision-making: Perspectives from executives in Indian multinational enterprises

Author

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  • Subramaniam Ananthram

    (Curtin University)

  • Christopher Chan

    (York University
    Australian Catholic University
    Université de Rennes 1)

Abstract

Through a semi-structured interview with 40 senior executives from Indian multinational enterprises (MNEs), we use virtue ethics theory to examine the types of virtues that are promulgated by religiosity and spirituality in shaping ethical behavior. The responses were coded in NVivo and the themes and concepts were organized into four categories (e.g., environmental context, individual religious virtues, individual non-religious spiritual virtues, and organizational ethical virtues). These categories contributed to ethical decision-making. The findings suggest that it is critical to understand ethical decision-making by identifying virtues that are important in religious, spiritual, and humanistic contexts in countries such as India, which are religiously and spiritually diverse. The study findings assist in the development of a framework of ethical decision-making that can be used for further empirical testing across both non-Western and Western contexts in multi-faith populations. Several theoretical, practical, and methodological contributions are presented along with suggestions for future research.

Suggested Citation

  • Subramaniam Ananthram & Christopher Chan, 2016. "Religiosity, spirituality and ethical decision-making: Perspectives from executives in Indian multinational enterprises," Asia Pacific Journal of Management, Springer, vol. 33(3), pages 843-880, September.
    • Handle: RePEc:kap:asiapa:v:33:y:2016:i:3:d:10.1007_s10490-016-9460-5
    DOI: 10.1007/s10490-016-9460-5
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    Cited by:

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    3. Chan, Christopher & Ananthram, Subramaniam & Thaker, Keyur & Liu, Yi, 2022. "Do religiosity and ethical principles influence ethical decision-making in a multi-faith context? Evidence from India," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 149(C), pages 772-785.
    4. Hari Bapuji & Snehanjali Chrispal & Balagopal Vissa & Gokhan Ertug, 2023. "Local, yet global: Implications of caste for MNEs and international business," Journal of International Business Policy, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 6(2), pages 201-234, June.
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    9. Isabelle Breton-Miller & Danny Miller & Zhenyang Tang & Xiaowei Xu, 2024. "CEO Religion and Corporate Social Responsibility: A Socio-behavioral Model," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 195(1), pages 167-189, November.
    10. Christopher Chan & Subramaniam Ananthram, 2019. "Religion-Based Decision Making in Indian Multinationals: A Multi-faith Study of Ethical Virtues and Mindsets," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 156(3), pages 651-677, May.
    11. Thushini S. Jayawardena-Willis & Edwina Pio & Peter McGhee, 2021. "The Divine States (brahmaviharas) in Managerial Ethical Decision-Making in Organisations in Sri Lanka: An Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 168(1), pages 151-171, January.
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