Introduction

While some are wary of trends that encourage the interpenetration of faith and business, others welcome such integration, seeing in Christianity and other religious traditions dispositions that could challenge unhealthy characteristics and consequences of modern capitalism. Some have in fact come to believe that religious faith represents a wellspring of resources and concern that might help reshape corporate America by re-humanizing business and fortifying its ethical moorings. Given the world-changing energy evangelicals possess, evangelical business leaders in particular are candidates to initiate such reform as they attempt to do business in ways that are compatible with their religious convictions. For better or worse, evangelical executives could also advance a religious agenda if they join together in common cause, as some have suggested characterizes the faith at work movement. While evangelical business leaders certainly state that their faith influences their work, the nature and effect of such influence is often unexpected.

Conclusion

For most evangelical executives, being an evangelical Christian in a corner office is not so much confusing or tension-filled as lonely. While the faith at work movement encourages evangelical business leaders to integrate their faith and their work, evangelical executives do not lack ways to implement their faith. Rather, they thirst for companionship and legitimation—for reassurance that their vocational choices have been sound and their time and energy well spent. Such is the primary effect of the faith at work movement for evangelical executives, the gist of whose rhetoric is to baptize business, or provide symbolic justification of business as a sacred enterprise. Eager indeed to integrate faith and work, for them, integration works in reverse. Evangelical business leaders are as likely to export business concepts into other contexts as to import religious concepts into the corporate domain, prompting reconsideration of the direction of influence between religious and economic life.

Islands of Influence

While some are wary of concerted attempts by well-connected evangelicals to advance a religious agenda in corporate contexts, evangelical executives demonstrate little desire to turn companies into explicitly “Christian” organizations or to transform the core values and objectives toward which businesses are oriented, or indeed much evidence that there is any shared agenda around which they might coalesce. While the Social Gospel movement of the early twentieth century—a precursor to contemporary emphases on faith at work—was concerned with structural and institutional change, this preoccupation does not characterize evangelical executives today. Even those who share core religious convictions and overriding dispositions toward business express their convictions in diverse ways. But this diversity is not simply idiosyncratic. Rather, it is conditioned by executives’ professional histories and the norms and priorities that characterize their particular occupational contexts. There is, therefore, no one evangelical approach to faith and work.

A Nationally Representative Survey of Faith and Work: Demographic Subgroup Differences around Calling and Conflict

Research has increasingly highlighted the importance of business leaders allowing people to bring their whole selves to work. And religion is an important part of the whole self for many. However, we lack the large-scale national data needed to explore how Americans see the connections between religion and work. Here, from “Faith at Work: An Empirical Study”—a novel, nationally representative dataset—we explore the extent to which working Americans (N = 8767) see their work as a spiritual calling and/or experience work conflict because of their religious faith. We find that one fifth of workers identify their work as a spiritual calling. Our findings also suggest that experiences of religious conflict and discrimination are shaped not only by religious beliefs, but also social location. The initial results highlight future avenues for research and demonstrate the potential of the “Faith at Work” data to shed further light on how religion enters the workplace.

Cornering the Canvasser: Amnesty International USA Maria Drivenes and Herbert Sherman Long Island University - Brooklyn

The following is an instructional, disguised field-based case study that was written for an introductory course in human resource management although the case could be utilized in either an introductory management or business ethics class. Primary data from the case was retrieved from an informal interview with a former employee at Amnesty and extended via secondary research from relevant internet sites. The case focuses on several major human resource issues in terms of wearing symbols of faith at work and negligent hiring. It also indirectly raises questions of using personality tests in recruiting and leadership training.The story line is as follows: Aida, a recent college graduate, was having little success obtaining second interviewees after three months in the job market. She conducted some online research to firm the “perfect” organization to work for which was Amnesty International USA (AI USA).Applying and successfully hired for a canvasser position, Aida struggled to hit her weekly-required collection quota of $125/week. Her team leader Luke finds the situation frustrating and starts to believe that Aida’s hijab is getting in the way of her performance based upon his perception of donor discrimination.The situation becomes convoluted when Luke, in the process of assisting Aida sign up a donor (Luke’s main concern), overheard a conversation between Holly (an excellent and experienced canvasser) and a potential donor leading Luke to suspect Holly of committing theft and fraud. The case ends with a series of questions about using symbols of faith at work, personality and job fit, and job descriptions/specification.

Producing Sacredness and Defending Secularity: Faith in the Workplace of Taiwanese Scientists

Although a recent body of scholarship focuses on how business professionals infuse spiritual practices in their workplaces, comparatively little attention has been paid to faith in the scientific workplace, especially in an Eastern, non-Christian context. Between 2014 and 2015, we conducted a survey of 892 scientists in Taiwan and completed interviews with 52 of our survey respondents. In this paper, we examine how scientists navigate religion in the scientific workplace. Survey results demonstrate that while scientists perceive religion and scientific research as generally separate in the abstract, in practice, they regard the boundary between religion and their workplace as somewhat permeable. Interviews further show how different groups of Taiwanese scientists create sacredness and defend secularity in scientific work. Results have implications for future research on how scientists (and potentially those in other types of professions) in non-Western and non-Christian countries navigate faith at work.