The material nature of spirituality in the small business workplace: from transcendent ethical values to immanent ethical actions

ABSTRACT

We interviewed leaders of small businesses who have integrated spirituality from diverse spiritual traditions into their workplaces. We contribute to a better understanding of the motives and deeply held values behind the integration of spirituality in the small business workplace, of how spiritual values and meaning are manifest in small business, and of how spirituality can be integrated into small business processes and behaviors. We build upon previous theoretical development of an authentically and spirituality informed management theory by focusing on the concepts of immanence and involvement, and integration and interconnectedness, as they relate to ethical and socially responsible behavior in workplaces. Our findings contrast some ways that workplace spirituality has been reported to be institutionalized in the management, spirituality, and religion literature.

KEYWORDS:

• Small business and spirituality
• spirituality and business ethics
• workplace spirituality

We are not human beings having a spiritual experience; we are spiritual beings having a human experience.

Pierre Teilhard de Chardin

I’m not an entrepreneur who happens to be spiritual; I’m a spiritual Indian who happens to be an entrepreneur…

Aboriginal business owner

It has been suggested that spiritually based organizations cannot be a passing fashion, but rather need to be an imperative for the third millennium (e.g., Vasconcelos 2015). An increasing number of management and organizational scholars suggest that spirituality and religion have relevance for modern day business practice (e.g., Balog, Baker, and Walker 2014; Dyck 2014; Porth, Steingard, and McCall 2003). However, we suggest that a limited form of corporate business rationality has influenced much of the management, spirituality, and religion (MSR) academic work. This is evidenced by a predominant focus on the experiences of large corporations and corporate leaders. Spirituality has become “big business” (Carette and King 2005). Popular literature and media portrayals of workplace spirituality have also predominantly focused on large corporations and productivity. We know little about how small businesses integrate spirituality and religion into their work and workplaces (Washington 2016). Yet, small sized enterprises make up almost 98% of business organizations in most parts of the world (e.g., Industry Canada 2015). To understand better how small businesses interpret and apply workplace spirituality, we interviewed leaders of Canadian small businesses who have integrated spirituality from diverse faith and spiritual traditions into their businesses.

We address Benefiel’s (2003, 384) call for empirical research in workplace spirituality that does “not trivialize deep spiritual traditions” nor focus on “tying spirituality to material gain.” Although most management and organizational studies of workplace spirituality have focused on one religious perspective, and mostly Christian (Lambert 2009; Tracey 2012), there is benefit in searching for common themes among different spiritual traditions with respect to promotion of diverse societies and diverse workplaces. According to Gotsis and Kortesi (2008, 582–3) “any attempt to approach workplace spirituality from a context-specific background leads to a fragmented discussion, in which only people sharing the same cultural, religious, theoretical or scientific background can be involved.” Much of the research in this area has additionally focused on measuring religiosity, using questionnaires, and auditing spirituality-oriented programs. In this regard, we also address calls for greater use of qualitative methods in the empirical study of workplace spirituality (e.g., Fornaciari and Lund Dean 2001; Lambert 2009; Zhuravleva and Jones 2006).

Our findings build on theories of workplace spirituality by contributing to a deeper understanding of the relationship between spirituality and the small business workplace and work-related ethical and socially responsible behavior. The goal of this study is to explore the motives and deeply held values that drive the integration of spirituality into small businesses, the spiritual values and meaning that are manifest in business organizations, and the integration of spirituality into small business processes and behaviors. In this respect, we also address calls for more in-depth study of the relationship between spirituality and ethics in the workplace (e.g., Bell, Taylor, and Driscoll 2011; Lund Dean and Fornaciari 2007).

Our findings should be of significant interest to scholars of small business and entrepreneurship, business ethics, organizational theory, and MSR. The results of our study should also be of value to small business practitioners, as well as policy makers, educators, and consultants, as an increasing number of organizations struggle with ways of authentically integrating spirituality into a variety of workplaces. We begin with a review of some literature.

Theoretical background

As mentioned above, little is known about how small businesses integrate spirituality into their workplaces. The focus in the MSR literature has been mostly on large business and corporate leaders (Washington 2016). Scholarly interest in business ethics has also primarily focused on large companies (Spence and Painter-Morland 2010).

There has been a reported increase in academic interest in spirituality as a social phenomenon over the past two decades and the field of MSR in particular has seen significant growth (Ashmos and Duchon 2000; Karakas 2010; Miller and Ngunjiri 2015; Mitroff and Denton 1999). Many claim the study of workplace spirituality to be an emerging field (e.g., Gotsis and Kortezi 2008; Hicks 2003) within a larger spirituality in the workplace social movement (Ashmos and Duchon 2000; Miller 2007). Evidence of growth in the topic of workplace spirituality includes the number of spirituality-related books, conferences, centers, consultants, coaches, trainers, speakers, websites, and awards. However, others argue that theologians, philosophers, social scientists, religious and psychology scholars, and indigenous peoples have been discussing, discerning, and writing about the relationship between work, spirituality, and religion for over two thousand years (e.g., Diddams, Whittington, and Davigo 2005; Miller 2007; Ross et al. 2006; Williams 2003).

An absolute guiding force and a sense of connectedness or interconnectedness are found in many of the definitions of workplace spirituality in the literature (e.g., Ashmos and Duchon 2000; Mitroff and Denton 1999). Work is viewed as connecting to transcendent purpose and community (Ashforth and Pratt 2003; Dehler and Welsh, 2003; Mirvis 1997; Porth, Steingard, and McCall 2003). For example, Diddams et al. (2005, 321) refer to the building of “spiritual ties” among stakeholder groups through organizational structures, values, and dialog. They prefer “spirituality within work” over “spirituality at work” to reflect a “whole-life model” (2005, 321). According to these authors, “…pursuing vocation as spiritual quest involves developing an authentic sense of self to serve others not only in the workplace but in other life realms so people work to integrate, balance or even feel tension among aspects of their spiritual authentic self within a whole life model” (321). Others have similarly focused on a “whole person”, holistic, or integral aspect to workplace spirituality as distinct from a commodified, corporate approach (e.g., Ashforth and Pratt 2003; Dehler and Welsh, 2003; Delbecq 1999; Driver 2005; Epstein 2002; Lips-Wiersma 2003; Neck and Milliman 1994; Porth, Steingard, and McCall 2003). Porth, Steingard, and McCall (2003) suggested that an authentic spirituality is systematic, not programmatic. These authors define authentic spirituality as a spirituality which “forces people fundamentally to be concerned not just about themselves but about others; it causes them to respect and promote the full flourishing of other humans” (2003, 254; see also Steingard 2005).

Additional work has been done in studying spirituality connected to personal goals in everyday behavior (Emmons, Cheung, and Tehrani 1998), to workplace thoughts, behaviors, and interactions (Tombaugh, Mayfield, and Durand 2011, 147) and to “…changing organizational culture by transforming leadership and employees…” (Garcia-Zamor 2003, 362). Miller (2007) described four specific forms of work-faith integration and adaptation: 1) ethics-oriented form (e.g., applying the Golden Rule), 2) an expressive form (e.g., speaking with co-workers about one’s religion), 3) an experiential form (e.g., interpreting ones’ work experience as a calling from God), and 4) an enrichment form (e.g., seeing one’s faith as fostering change or growth).

Much of the popular and academic work regarding workplace spirituality has described a corporate, privatized and commodified approach to spiritual goods and services in the workplace, focusing on spiritual “resources”, “techniques”, “competencies” and “programs” (e.g., Epstein 2002; Lambert 2009; Milliman et al. 1999; Tischler, Biberman, and McKeage 2002). Popular examples include corporate chaplains, prayer and/or meditation spaces, and the implementation of “spiritual values” rhetoric in corporate communication. According to Miller and Ngunjiri (2015, 131), an increasing number of American businesses are hiring corporate chaplains to meet the “spiritual, social, and emotional needs of employees.”

However, scholars from a variety of fields have raised concerns about the emergence of a “spiritual management development” and discourse of “corporate, commodified spirituality” which focuses on, among other things, self- actualization, workplace as a replacement for community, and the molding of employees to global economic ends (e.g., Bell and Taylor 2004; Case and Gosling 2010; Driscoll and Wiebe 2007; Gibbons 2000; Porth, Steingard, and McCall 2003; Lips-Wiersma, Dean, and Fornaciari 2009; Long and Driscoll 2015; Nadesan 1999). Porth et al. (2003, 260) suggested that by focusing on systems and practices that respect inner dignity of stakeholders without using explicitly religious language, organizations can “avoid the potentially ambiguous and divisive language of spirituality.”

Therefore, it is difficult to identify an authentic spirituality without understanding underlying organizational values and motives (Porth, Steingard, and McCall 2003). According to Diddams et al. (2005, 314), “spirituality is closely linked with a working-out of morals, relationships, and those personal values which guide one’s everyday choices and actions.” In this way, “[a]n individual’s spirituality will determine his or her understanding and interpretation of ethical behavior” (Garcia-Zamor 2003, 362; see also Gull and Doh 2004; McGhee and Grant 2017). Balog, Baker, and Walker (2014) found evidence of the influence of spirituality on the responsible business practice of entrepreneurs. Although Wickert, Scherer, and Spence (2016) do not focus on spirituality per se, they, among others, have found that small businesses are more likely to realize CSR activities as compared to large businesses.

The primary research questions guiding our study are: 1) How are spiritual values and meanings manifest in small businesses and 2) how is spirituality integrated into small business processes and behaviors, in particular focusing on ethical behaviors? Although aspects of these questions have been studied previously, we specifically focus on whether there is something unique about how small business leaders integrate spirituality into their work and workplaces.

Research methods

Our study is exploratory and interpretive in nature. We listen to the narrative voices of spiritual people doing what they consider spiritual work in their workplaces. Calls for more use of qualitative methods in the study of workplace spirituality have come from those who criticize a reductionist approach to the study of workplace spirituality (e.g., Bell and Taylor 2003; Fornaciari and Lund Dean 2001; Hicks 2003; Zhuravleva and Jones 2006). According to these authors, qualitative methods better tap the complexity, diversity, and elusiveness of spirituality rather than reduce it to a singular definition and specific number of dimensions. According to Smircich and Stubbart (1985), interpretive studies seek to understand thoughts and actions at a personal level rather than from a distant, abstract level. We explore and interpret the experiences of leaders from 12 small businesses who integrate their faith and spirituality into their workplaces and put their personal spirituality into practice in a variety of ways.

Data collection

We used a semi-structured and conversational interview style with participants in their various workplaces (Patton 2002). Each interview was audiotaped and transcribed. Participants founded, lead, owned and/or managed businesses in a variety of industries. Our sample is drawn from different regions of Canada. Participants are also based in different cultural contexts due to their varied cultural, including religious, backgrounds. Participants included people with Aboriginal, Buddhist, Islamic, Jewish, New Age, and various types of Christian backgrounds. We used purposeful sampling to elicit meaningful, deep, and diverse data (Miles, Huberman, and Saldene 2014; Patton 2002). The consistent factor was that all the participants were known in their various communities for applying their spirituality to their workplaces and considered their spirituality to have implications for their business organizations. All but one of our company participants had fewer than 99 employees and the majority had between 15 and 25. Tables 1 and 2 provide a summary of the 12 companies and our 20 research participants.

Table 1. Description of company participants.

Participant code	Faith or spiritual background of owner/founder	Business/industry category	Small (S) (1–99 employees), medium (M) (100–499)
BAKE	Jewish	Bakery	S
BOOK	Buddhist	Retail (bookstore and cafe)	S
COMM	Christian	Communications	S
CONS	Christian	Consulting	S
ENG	Christian	Engineering	S
GROC	Islam	Retail (grocery)	S
PKNG	Christian	Packaging	M (160 employees)
RECR	Aboriginal	Arts and Recreation	S
REST	Christian	Restaurant	S
SERV1	Christian	Service (maintenance)	S
SERV2	Aboriginal	Service (seasonal maintenance)	S
SPA	New age	Service (spa)	S

Table 2. Interviewees.

	Participant code	Gender	Founder (F), owner (O), manager (M), Employee (E)
1	BAKE	M	F, O, M
2	BOOK	M	F, O, M
3	COMM	F	F, O, M
4	COMM	M
5	CONS	M	F, O, M
6	ENG	M	F, O, M
7	ENG	M	E
8	ENG	M	E
9	ENG	M	E
10	ENG	M	E
11	ENG	M	E
12	GROC	F	F, former O & M
13	PKNG	F	O, M
14	RECR	M	F, O, M
15	REST	F	F, O
16	REST	M	E
17	REST	M	E
18	SERV1	M	F, O, M
19	SERV2	M	F, O, M
20	SPA	F	F, O

The two co-founders of COMM were interviewed together. In addition, five employees in ENG and two employees in REST were interviewed. These seven interviews as well as some participant observation¹ provided partial corroborating evidence for these two companies. Other sources of triangulating data include content analysis of available websites (REST, PKNG, ENG, COMM). Interview questions included the following: Can you tell me the story of how you came to bring spirituality into this organization? How does your spirituality/faith make a difference in the way that you do business/your work? How important is talking about your spirituality at work? Can you give me a specific example of how you bring your spirituality into the workplace?

Data analysis

We conducted a preliminary analysis of each transcript and then followed up with several iterations of theme refinement. Our analysis and integration of data was particularly challenging as we heard a multitude of perspectives on spirituality. The topic easily transitioned to tangents for our participants. Several participants interwove work stories with life stories; some stories relate to upbringing and others to present life challenges. However, our participants’ experience of spiritual integration into their business is the empirical evidence we bring forward and it is their voices and stories that we share with the reader.

The first and second author engaged in open coding of the transcripts, searching for key themes and patterns. Analytic memos were also used. We used multiple rounds of theme development followed by multiple rounds of open coding (Locke 2001), although one of these authors was previously familiar with frameworks and concepts in the MSR literature. The first round of coding resulted in descriptive first-order codes. The second round involved reviewing notes from discussions during the first round, reviewing the MSR literature, and creating broader second- and third-order codes. The first two authors met on several occasions to reconcile any remaining differences between the data-coding structure and theoretical theming. The coding structure is found in Appendix.

Findings

The “business of business” for our participants seems to be putting spirituality into practice. In other words, business objectives serve a spiritual purpose; spirituality does not serve business objectives. Although there are common threads, each business appears to have its unique applications of spirituality in and through their business practice. For most participants spirituality is transcendent and yet very immanent, applied in their world and workplaces. Efforts are made by all participants to create spiritual space and make spiritual ties with current as well as past and future stakeholders. Participants also described ways of finding spiritual space in their work, workplaces, and work relationships. The connection between spirituality and the workplace is primarily implicit. Each of these themes is fleshed out below. However, we begin our analysis with an introduction to how participants view spirituality, and workplace spirituality in particular.

View of spirituality and workplace spirituality

Some participants are more explicit than others about the way spirituality is manifested in their workplaces; however, all the participants make implicit connections to their workplaces by applying their spiritual values and beliefs to people, practices, and processes in their respective organizational environments. Participants’ spirituality appears to be consistently manifested in concrete practices in the workplace rather than through explicit working definitions of spirituality applied directly to workplaces. Outside of one exception, participants did not explicitly refer to “searching,” “searching for meaning,” “growing,” or “self-actualizing” at work. What we have seen throughout the interviews is that participants express their spirituality in their approaches to people (including employees and customers); to workplace leadership; to the products or processes in the workplaces; or to the natural environment. They represent a calling to do work with excellence, integrity, and ethics but they have not attributed a discovery of this calling to their workplaces.

Participants’ definitions of spirituality encompass theist, non-theistic, religious, and non-religious understandings of the meaning of the concept “spirituality.” While most participants are able to articulate aspects of their working definitions of spirituality, the definitions are fluid and organic and therefore the participants’ respective understandings of spirituality can be more readily observed and articulated where they put their spirituality into practice.

Although spirituality is all-encompassing and integral to participants, there is little evidence of expressing personal spirituality in the workplace using religious language or particular references to faith or tradition. For example, BOOK exemplifies the Buddhist ethos that none of their workplace spirituality is a goal per se but rather an expression of the spirituality that is expressed only by default. There were two exceptions. For example, SERV2 was very open about sharing his spirituality with stakeholders. He said, “I’m a spiritual Indian…I will tell them [customers] by choosing my business you have chosen to support the sweat lodge…” BAKE was also open about sharing his Jewish lifestyle and beliefs with employees (e.g., sometimes reminding them “who the boss [God] is”).

Although there are some reoccurring and common concepts and themes, the variety of ways that participants express their spirituality speaks to the variety of working definitions. One participant states,

There’s many layers to it, it’s not just a one-dimensional word for me. It means so much more… Everything about me defines the spiritual role, my place in the world. So from the way I dress, to the way I speak, to the way I practice my faith. So as I said, it’s not one layer. It’s just many, many things…[T]here is spirituality everywhere…However we want to name spirituality, religion, faith; it’s a fluid process. I don’t think it’s one thing. (GROC)

The Aboriginal participants equate spirituality with traditional knowledge, the ancestors, connection to the land and environment and see no separation between spirituality and work or spirituality and identity (“It’s who I am”). (SERV2) The Buddhist participant describes some philosophies behind Buddhism and in particular shares the nature of meditation practice as an expression of his spirituality. While there is no goal as such in this practice, he describes it as abiding with what is and becoming aware in a non-judgmental way. Christian participants refer to God, a higher power, and the Creator. Some are explicit about the Bible and Jesus; however, most do not use explicitly Christian language when discussing spirituality even though their definitions include a theistic understanding. These participants see spirituality as “an everyday experience” and connect spirituality with human beings’ connections with one another and with one’s actions toward others. The Jewish and Muslim participants similarly see spirituality as a way of life encompassing everything they do and everything around them. “…[C]onnecting with everything, whether it’s the earth, or whether it’s people, or whether it’s the ground, just everything.” (GROC) The New Age participant views spirituality as sacred and the deepest part of a human being whose purpose is to serve others.

There are also consistent and repetitive themes across these particular spirituality descriptions. For example, spirituality is often part of participants’ identities (e.g., “I am a spiritual Indian”; “I’m Jewish”). At times, the explicit spiritual connection is not made because it is self-evident to participants that the practices they note are expressions of their spiritual identity.

One common theme across all interviews is an implicit application of spirituality in the workplace that is not short-term, instrumental, or strategic. We found only a few examples of participants connecting spirituality to long-term business material gain and none to market ends. An example of long-term thinking is found in SERV1’s emphasis on “the relationships that you develop [which] are long standing.” CONS describes a “detachment from results” and BAKE describes how “It’s not about the money. It’s enjoying what you do, being grateful for what you have.” GROC states how “[a] core part of me is helping others and not for benefit.”

We now turn to some explicitly common spiritual themes. These include the immanent and involved nature of spirituality, and the integral and interconnected nature of spirituality.

Spirituality as immanent and involved

We found that the spirituality as expressed by our participants integrated purpose and positive values in their organizations. As REST stated,

I talk about food and I talk about spirituality – you gotta work from the ground up. The ground – the soil is life… I want to do something for the environment – help people, grow farms, make an impact – what can I do? Put me somewhere – like oh yes – okay I’ll do it.

BAKE connected purpose to his managerial and marketing values in the following story of serving one customer.

The only tear I ever saw was from a little girl. She was 9 years old when I first opened my bakery. Her mother came to me and said, “My daughter’s allergic to milk and eggs and nobody can make her a cake, and for 9 birthdays she has served her friends and smiled and when they left she cried.” And I looked at her and said, “Thank you. I will make you a cake.” That’s the only person who’s ever cried in my store because she got to have the cake with her friends. So, for me, that blessing that God brought me – We have vegan cakes; we devised a recipe for that one child who has brought us countless people who have the similar needs and a whole group of people who have a religion about their food.

It is an inclusive and all-encompassing definition of spirituality that is offered by most participants. The material and the spiritual, the secular and the sacred, do not appear to be separated. For example, PKNG describes spirituality as “a co-creation kind of thing.” There are some shared themes relating to alignment with service, selflessness, responsibility to others, honoring stakeholders, doing good, helping and respecting others, having integrity, being caring, and acting ethically. All participants either explicitly or implicitly connect business purpose to a greater power or purpose. Examples of these connections are illustrated in Table 3.

Table 3. Connecting to greater power or purpose.

“…[I]t’s something that spirit knows I’m doing, or the universe knows…there is something so profound in the power of touch.” (SPA) “…[T]he business I opened wasn’t for my own purpose, it was for community.” (GROC) “I believe when you have a bigger vision other than yourself about doing something and because I’m doing the [restaurant], so many other people are being affected in a good way – that works – it’s aligned with God.” (REST) “…[W]e can see a higher calling in what we do; it’s beyond just getting the best result for the client.” (COMM) “The real boss is God and we serve God with what we’re doing.” (BAKE) “It’s love for others before yourself.” (SERV1) “We’re not just here for ourselves.” (CONS) “…[W]e’re very conscious of the fact that we need to tap into a greater power to assist us with some of the decisions that we have to make at work.” (PKNG)

Creating spiritual space

Participants seemed to create spiritual space in primarily implicit rather than explicit ways. Spiritual space is organized around substantive spiritual values. It involves shared meaning and shared identity. Again, although there were some common themes, participants seemed to hold unique ideas about creating spiritual space in their business. For example, SPA creates spiritual space in ways that she describes as “subtle” and “simple.” She sends a message to clients that they will be cared for and helped to feel good so that they can uncover their spirit, or the deepest part of themselves. She strives “to create a space where anyone, women or men, can call their spirit back if you will. A space where they can completely, 100%, surrender…, where they can enter and they feel completely embraced and welcomed.” She also sets aside time to meditate with staff and has opened this to the public. BAKE creates spiritual space through rituals carried out in the bakery that express gratitude to and belief in God. “Everything starts with a Berakhah, a blessing, and everything walks out with a blessing.” COMM creates spiritual space through the development of the process used in the company’s work of building community-gathering places. “…[Clients] say, ‘You do it differently,’ and while the people that refer us may not share our faith, they know that there’s a distinct difference in how we approach it and I think that’s because of our faith.”

In a similar manner, SERV1 creates spiritual space through authentically integrating spiritual values into the workplace. He describes language used (and not used) and how he strives to put the Golden Rule into practice. For CONS, spiritual space is created through reflection and open dialog in the workshops he puts on. He asks people to reflect on and challenge popular perceptions of the world [“as painted to us”]. BOOK creates spiritual space in the physical design of the shop. He sees the books (e.g., titles, displays) and the design of the shop (e.g., colors, artwork) as presenting a richness of human experience because of his spirituality. Spirituality is not explicit but it is very much embodied in the physical space, the service, the quality of the product, the source of the product and the display and the contents of the books (“…like a slow brewed moment”). Books in bookshelves are invested with spiritual meaning for this participant. GROC describes creating a safe and welcoming place for the local Muslim community, thus supporting a shared social identity and sense of spiritual community. PKNG created a prayer room out of openness to diversity and respecting an employee’s prayer needs.

As mentioned already, there is little reported expression of religious language and practice in these companies. However, a few participants shared examples of how spiritual ritual and tradition have been integrated into their work and workplaces. We begin with two examples from our Aboriginal participants of how spiritual space is created through ritual and ceremony.

…[W]hen that truck isn’t working I take that tobacco and I hit the dash of that truck and I put it out the window and that truck starts working – and the guys that work for me, they flip out and they freak out…You know when I bought that big truck out there I put a piece of tobacco on the bumper down in front and I said, ‘This is gonna help me build my business, help me get it,’ and it happened – I got it real cheap. (SERV2)

…[H]e wanted me to tell a story, which isn’t that unusual, but he also asked me to, uh, if I could find someone who would agree to bring someone who could do what in [province] we call a smudge, or a sweet grass ceremony. (RECR)

BAKE describes the integration of ritual and prayer with the baking process.

So when we take a portion of the dough like they do in the temple times, when we do that to the dough we’re doing that to keep the tradition holy and keep it.

BOOK describes how a man from the local Buddhist community came into the bookstore and performed a cleansing ceremony the night before they first opened.

…Tibetans have what’s called a sang sol and the smoke goes up …and the spirits will come down, come down in that particular smoke. So he did a sang sol ceremony all around the whole business. And the books were in place.

Several of the employees at ENG described how a Muslim employee rolls out his mat in his workspace several times a day to pray to Allah.

Finding spiritual space

Participants also referred to finding spiritual space in their work and workplaces. For example, SPA describes how she finds spirituality in her treatment room in the “profound power of touch”, “moments of stillness”, and “receiving and giving.” RECR sees spirituality as related to the values he has learned, the traditions of his ancestors and in the hard work and perseverance of his people. He finds spiritual space manifest in the experience of “paddling the river” and “running the rapids”, in the enjoyment of the people he has guided on canoe trips, in the canoes (and the building of the canoes) themselves, and in the experience of integrating traditions and traditional spiritual values into life and work. He describes taking a group of Aboriginal offenders out on the land in his canoes. For this participant, this was a sign of the spiritual significance of the canoes for these people. SERV1 finds spiritual space in the way that spiritual values elevate his organization to “a higher plane.” Additional ways that participants seemed to find spiritual space are illustrated in Table 4.

Table 4. Finding spiritual space in work and workplace.

In role-modeling of ancestors	“He [father] showed me that he would care about every single person, including the guy that would say good morning to him in the field…I see him just interacting.” (ENG) My parents…started this business 52 years ago, and my mother still comes in every afternoon, and they [had] very, very, very much a humanistic approach.”(PKNG)
In identity	“As a spiritual Indian…” (SERV2) “It [one’s spirituality] should affect everything you do, everything you touch.” (SERV1) “For us Jews, our place in this world is to serve God in everything we do.” (BAKE)
In authentic stakeholder interactions	“When that person comes into the room, the energy in the room changes…[S]omething resonates with them” (BOOK) “You know God is a flower, God is the earth, God is the soil, God is in birds, God is everywhere so [we] need to protect the whole life of the planet…” (REST) Every customer is a blessing and every employee is a miracle (BAKE).
In God/Creator’s providence active in business	“[I]t was pure faith that the [restaurant name] would happen…There’s a patch down there we actually used to think was a hole from heaven.” (REST) “So success to us isn’t in our hands; it’s in God’s hands…They came to us as miracles, each and every one of them…I’ve never advertised for employees… I needed an electrician to wire in a machine and there he [customer] was.” (BAKE) “…[A]s much as it is all me, it’s not me at all.” (CONS)
In surrender and service to other	“I’m bound to them, and give up myself to them…the people who work here.” (ENG) “We’re not just here for ourselves.” (CONS) “A spiritual person is thinking about how they can help others.” (SERV1) “A core part of me is helping others…” (GROC)

Applying spiritual values and principles to ethical practices

Participants provided specific examples of how they apply their spiritual values and principles to daily ethical decisions and behaviors. For example, SPA aligns her spiritual values with an all-natural product line and the suppliers she uses. “I could never bring in a line into this company that didn’t have the same great work ethics, a really good company culture.” Others spoke of honoring client’s terms of agreement, not cutting corners, and expecting high ethical standards of all employees. Some participants spoke of making personal sacrifices for their ethical beliefs.

…[W]e could be making more money – we could’ve had – you know we could’ve put this restaurant together – cheaper stuff and that way but to me that’s not the conscious level or the better good…I’ve had a few worry about our cost and all that stuff and I’m just saying, ‘Well we just can’t do it.’ I just – ethically, morally we just have to do it this way… (REST)

COMM shared the fact that they see their competition as people loved by God and they strive to treat them as such. They shared an example of not releasing a report because it was not the “right thing to do.”

This isn’t always easy but it’s a discipline I think and that’s to see our clients and our supporters but also our opposition as children of God…

Other examples are found in Table 5.

Table 5. Spirituality connecting to ethical actions.

“We don’t borrow. We don’t lend.” (BAKE) “…[W]e have turned down a couple of clients because in our mind we understood that there would be ethical issues that would surface over the life of our relationship with them.” (COMM) “We prefer to pay more for our paper cups; they’re bio-degradable.” (BOOK) “…[W]e want to basically be working toward a world without packaging waste.” (PKNG) “…[M]y store was specifically on providing Halal meat;…there’s also a core belief that to treat these animals as humanely as possible.” (GROC) “I feel that spiritual values actually elevate the work environment because it, it stresses the importance of showing respect to others. It touches on the facets of honesty and the way you are fulfilling your responsibilities within, not only within the office, but also in dealing with clients…” (SERV1)

Building spiritual ties with stakeholders

Participants also spoke about the importance of ancestral and family connections, as well as specific ways of honoring stakeholder relationships. For example, REST’s desire to help others and to share with others is rooted in the learning that she got from her father who modeled helping others and from whom she learned to be empathic toward the plight of other people in distress or need. “I believe all the goodness comes from my dad….[W]e all came out as fighters for the planet and towards people.” SPA found a line of products with organic ingredients because what she puts on her clients is “honouring one human to the other.” PKNG’s business provides opportunities for employees to have confidential meetings with a wellness consultant to get some support in challenging areas (e.g., smoking cessation, stress management).

…[W]e have a lot of people who will come to us because they trust us…[My mother] was a nurse and a counselor who went into business to help her husband and ended up staying here and managing;…there’s always been very much a open door policy with our staff…[S]he just had that relationship with them.

Additional examples of fostering spiritual ties are illustrated in Table 6.

Table 6. Building spiritual ties with stakeholders.

Through honoring stakeholders	“We are committed to maintaining the integrity of our company by being responsible to our employees, customers, and the world in which we live.” (PKNG website) “It’s all my actions. It’s the way I treat people. It’s the way I treat the Earth. It’s the way I treat animals.” (GROC) “…[W]e can dip into different communities through our projects and have access to people that we would otherwise never encounter …., realizing we come from different faith perspectives but seeing where our shared values are….” (COMM)
Through ancestral and family ties	“…[A]ll traditional knowledge and skills which I learned through my family connections and connections with other friends in Labrador and several people from the US.” (RECR) “…[T]his business was created by the ancestors – I just kinda fell into it” (SERV2) “…[I]t was the first generation that set that tone…[T]he second generation that’s now involved in it, we’re very, very aware of our responsibility to this large number of people.” (PKNG)
Through customer service	“Every customer that walks in your door is not just a customer; they’re a blessing.” (BAKE) “I want them [client] to get the absolutely best cup of coffee that I can produce for them, and if they come in another time, then I want it to be just as good as it was the first time.” (BOOK) GROC’s support and services for customers in their community who are in need.
Through employee service	SPA’s toxin free environment. SERV1’s respectful way of interacting with and honoring employees. BOOK’s insistence that employees understand the “why” behind the ethos of the business. PKNG’s attendance at funerals for all employee family members. BAKE’s reduction of stress for employees.
Through supplier service	BOOK’s connecting with the “actual people” who “actually grow and harvest” his supply of coffee beans. REST’s support of local farmers and personally getting to know each of her businesses’ 40 suppliers.

Integral and interconnected

All the participants referred to the integral and interconnected aspects of their spirituality applied to their business practices. This is particularly noticeable in the case of the seasonal maintenance company. Spirituality is the driving force behind the business. The business is a means for the owner to be able to practice his spirituality and be a sweat lodge keeper. This business owner’s team is that of those who pray for him and of the ancestors who help him to run his business. He believes that the practice of his spirituality, with the help of the ancestors, enables him to get through his health problems and the challenges of running the business. When he shares his spirituality with his customers, he believes it is good for them and for his business as well. Spirituality is not separate from his business or from any aspect of his daily life.

Spirituality is not something you do on Sunday – you know when it comes to native spirituality, it’s something you live. You’re either a spiritual Indian or you’re not a spiritual Indian. (SERV2)

BAKE similarly describes how his business serves his spiritual needs.

My approach to building the business was that it could serve my spiritual needs first. So when I figured out how to do this, I didn’t even know how to do this. I was making hallah bagels at home and bought 495 square feet and I didn’t even know how to make a cookie, let alone anything else. I spent hardly any money to do it. We had faith.

Spirituality is similarly integrated into all aspects of life for other participants. GROC understands spirituality as interconnected and all-encompassing with everything around her including the earth and people. “It’s not one thing I do in a week, it’s everything, it’s every moment of my day that I am aware.” RECR emphasized how for him it was important to “adapt and use whatever skills and values that you used in a traditional lifestyle, and use those same values in whatever I do.” CONS sees gratitude as helping workshop participants to see their connectedness to others and also those who have come before them by helping his participants to challenge the popular perceptions of the world and to see things from the perspective of connectedness and gratitude. Additional selected quotes of participants describing the integral and interconnected aspects are found in Table 7.

Table 7. Integral and interconnected aspects of workplace spirituality.

“Spirituality is so intertwined with my entire life.” (SPA) “…[Y]ou need to be as you are in your home, the same way in the workplace…” (PKNG) “…[Spirituality] affects every manner and facet of your life… who you are twenty four hours a day… It’s who I am…And if you’re a spiritual person, following the spiritual principles, then spiritual principles are not only to be followed when it’s convenient. It should be really, the basis of everything that we do.” (SERV1) “…[A]ll my decisions are made in spirit I believe…you know everything.” (REST) “You have to tend your business like it means something to you. It’s not just a way to make a living. It’s a way to serve God for us. It’s all one and the same.” (BAKE) “…[W]e can’t compartmentalize our lives and break it apart into pieces…” (CONS) “And, you know, the business and the family and the house and the gardens are kind of like, they’re all interconnected…”(BOOK)

Spirituality and community

Participants also make explicit connections between spirituality and community responsibility. Several participants describe starting their business to serve a spiritual need for their specific spiritual community. For example, as already mentioned, SERV2’s business has been a means for the owner to be able to build a sweat lodge and be the keeper for his spiritual community. GROC opened the business to serve a community need among the Muslim community. In addition to providing permissible meat, they help new immigrants find apartments and schools for their children, make connections with other services and businesses in the community, and even offer help with relationships. “We were doing social work without naming it as social work…It was a safe place to come and ask questions.” Similarly, BAKE opened the business to serve the needs of the Jewish community but also expanded to serve others with religious and health-based dietary needs.

REST’s connection and extension to local and global communities is evident in the time she spends working on climate change and local food security issues. She told stories of her dreams for the future of speaking at churches about local food, growing food to feed the hungry, and preparing meals for a church supper; and of potentially having a Christmas dinner at the restaurant for whoever needed or wanted to come to it. She believes in modeling this form of spirituality for others to follow.

That would be wonderful to – you know to be able to go to church and talk about local food and you know, imagine the food and even grow vegetables on their lawn – don’t think about mowing the grass – let’s grow in the grass…they have flowers, but let’s grow food. Then you could actually truly feed the homeless…

She also describes her connections with local suppliers and local farmers in particular. Other participants provide examples of connecting to local and global communities. For example, BOOK describes community connections made through building relationships with fair trade suppliers.

…[I]t’s called going to origin – everybody that goes there comes back and they want to do something for those people…It definitely extends beyond just this business.

Several participants specified a connection to environmental sustainability as part of their spirituality. For example, SERV2 has a deep sense of the interconnectedness with nature, which is also part of his business. He shared the following:

…[Y]ou’re always talking to the spirits or always listening to them; you’re always listening to Mother Earth, you’re always listening to the trees and the animals and the plants and all those things around you – you’re always trying to keep a connection with them and then your business at the same time – you know so it’s all in the same circle.

REST makes a very clear connection between organic food and sustainable environmental practices and her connection with God. Her website refers to environmental awareness being the “heartbeat of [the restaurant’s] philosophy and vision.” SPA strives to use natural products. “…[T]here’s an energy between us and plants and being connected to all that.” PKNG describes how “Before people were recycling, we were sort of recognizing that this is not going the way it should in the world and we have to reduce, reuse, recycle.”

In most cases, participants’ identity and sense of connectedness were much broader than their place of work. The participants in our study did not speak to their organizations as the source of their spirituality. Although most participants relayed how their spiritual work was directly integrated with their business work, for some, as previously pointed out, it was evident that the business purpose was to support spiritual purpose.

Discussion and research implications

All my decisions are always in a spiritual way. Sometimes they [employees] don’t know that. I don’t even have to say anything. I just do it and then they look and follow and watch and see the effect of what I do as an owner.

Restaurant Owner and Founder

In developing our theoretical framework, we have drawn on insights from diverse faith and spiritual traditions and practices applied in small businesses in diverse industry sectors. The theoretical features of our proposed dimensions of workplace spirituality include immanence and involvement, and integration and interconnectedness. Immanence and involvement is manifest in these business organizations in the creation and finding of spiritual space, in the application of spiritual values and principles to ethical practice, and in the building of spiritual ties with stakeholders. The integral and interconnected aspects of our framework are manifest in these business leaders’ sense of integrity and vast connections with local and global community and a broad set of stakeholders, including nature and future and past generations. In this sense, we contribute to theoretical development of an authentically and spirituality informed management theory “with shape, substance, [and] transformational capacity” (Steingard 2005, 251).

The participants in our study take non-material, spiritual values and apply these “transcendent values” concretely in their businesses. They exemplify practices that elevate the integral development of human persons and the way that business ought to be. Spirituality is immanent in these businesses and the transcendent is experienced in this immanence. Spirituality is spread throughout the workplace and into the organizational environment. It is evident in the everyday experiences of participants from the ritualistic smudging of a truck to the co-creation of a workplace founded on dignity and well-being. Participants sacralize their workplaces (Ashforth and Vaidyanath 2002) by and through creating spiritual space and spiritual ties (Diddams et al., 2005). They find spiritual space in their material work and workplaces. Spirituality is integrated into the business; it is not compartmentalized. Spirituality is also essential to participants’ identity. Moral significance is attached to decision making, and this morality is grounded in participants’ spirituality.

Participants are concerned with employees’, customers’, and communities’ needs in particular; they are present for stakeholders, and not consumed with a short-term orientation. Rather than a focus on the individual inner “spirit,” our participants focus on service to the other. Spirituality and work seem to be interwoven in a fluid, organic way.

In most cases, participants’ identity and sense of connectedness was much broader than their place of work. This contrasts the findings of others who suggest that business leaders in the U.S. increasingly see the workplace as the primary source of community and social support for workers (e.g., Miller and Ngunjiri 2015). Although there have been reports of a decline in other social institutions that provide meaning and spirituality (Ashforth and Vaidyanath 2002; Miller and Ngunjiri 2015), the participants in our study did not speak to the workplace as the sole or primary source of their spirituality. Ciulla (2000), for one, has emphasized the importance of building a sense of community and social support outside of one’s workplace. Our participants seemed to see the value in doing that.

All our participants appeared to operate from a strong spiritual foundation. Within Miller’s (2007) four forms of work-faith integration and adaptation, our respondents applied all forms (ethics-oriented, experiential, expressive, and enrichment). However, there were very few examples of the expressive form. In addition, many of these forms appear to be spiritually inspired and not obviously connected to any particular faith or religious teaching. For example, participants speak of spirituality bringing a higher ethical standard to their stakeholder relationships and responsibilities. For BOOK, spirituality is found and expressed in ceremonial display of books, excellence of coffee, and mindfulness of employees. In general, it seems to be more important for these participants to act on their spirituality rather than speak about it or to it. At the same time, whether participants spoke about “honoring the individual”, “service to other”, “greater good of all”, or “space of surrender”, their language used to describe spirituality in their work and workplaces seems deeply rooted in their spirituality, in most cases in the faith and wisdom traditions of these participants. Most seem to hold care for the neighbor as integral to their ethical practice. An experiential form is present in accepting the call of the Creator whether it is to build a restaurant or to build a sweat lodge. In addition, several participants exemplified an enrichment form in their emphasis on the healing and wellbeing of their stakeholders.

In our study, workplace spirituality does not appear to be institutionalized with explicit spiritually oriented language and programs. Participants shied away from using overtly religious language, in some cases intentionally out of respect for diversity. There are no formal spiritually oriented policies, procedures, programs, or statements in these businesses. None of our participating businesses’ websites or advertisements mention “faith friendliness” or “faith foundations.” There are no spirituality consultants, trainers, or workplace chaplains. These small business leaders do not refer to themselves as spiritual experts or coaches. In short, although spirituality is a central organizing principle in these businesses, there are no templates for workplace spirituality (Bell and Taylor 2003). We found spirituality not intentional or instrumental in its implementation, but rather integral to leadership, culture, and ethical decision-making practices, perhaps what Fenwick and Lange (1998, 82) described as the “response to the spiritual impulse [that] stirs the entire organization in humility and authentic search for justice.” In other words, ethical behavior is imbued with spiritual wisdom. Participants are likely inspired by explicit spiritual influences and even religious social doctrine. However, our participants have taught us that spirituality does not have to be named in the workplace to be authentically and meaningfully put into practice.

We invite further comparative qualitative study of spiritual integration among small businesses in other international workplace contexts. For example, the fact that our study takes place in Canada might partially explain why we found less emphasis on an evangelical and capitalist discourse than might be found among some American businesses that have integrated spirituality into their workplaces (Lambert 2009; Nadesan 1999). We echo Lambert’s (2009) call for additional study of spiritual and religious practices and work outside of an American context, as well as comparative cultural analysis in such studies.

In contrast to the critique of corporate level spiritual discourse and management development (e.g., Bell and Taylor 2004; Nadesan 1999), we found no evidence of fundamentalist zeal, of contradictions between spirituality and business, of seeing business as a replacement for community, or of molding employees to global market ends. Following Weber (1958), our findings break from a western dualistic and dichotomizing way of thinking and describing concepts such as religion and spirituality, transcendence and immanence, and secular and sacred. That is, the sacred and reverent are found in everyday actions and activities for our participants (e.g., Lambert 2009; McGuire 2008; Weber 1958). As Fenwick and Lange (1998, 82) stated, “In a complete surrender to and communion with the present, boundaries dissolve between the sacred and the secular…between work and prayer, and between self and other.”

Although we interviewed seven employees in two of the companies, future research should include interviewing both employers and employees to better understand the relationship between transcendent ethical values and immanent ethical actions from the perspective of employees and to explore any possible reasons for perceptual differences that might exist between employers and employees. In other words, how does the founder of a small business ensure that current and future employees will authentically resonate with established spiritual values?

We suggest that a predominant focus by management scholars on large organizations and “corporate spirituality” possibly serves as an obstacle to the study and practice of authentic organizational spirituality. Brown (2003) concluded that a corporate “organizational spirituality” has little in common with “spirituality”. Starting with a corporate discourse and corresponding assumptions of corporate spirituality is perhaps not the best way to study how spirituality is being integrated into most of the world’s business organizations, that is small businesses.

In accordance with Klenke (2003, 57), in our sample spirituality “means different things to different people” and there exists a “multitude of spiritualities in the workplace.” These spiritualities are often manifesting in similar ways (commonality of practice) but also in divergent ways. Would we lose the meaning(s) of spirituality(ies) if we reductively tried to capture it succinctly? We do not see it as essential to our interpretation to press distinctions between spirituality and religion. Perhaps spirituality cannot be reified and faith cannot be measured or classified. The spiritual discourse in this study tends to be expressed as embodied ethical values such as service to stakeholders and to community and care for the natural environment; making spirituality consistently expressed in a material way especially through ethical organizational practices. The point here is that participants in our study expressed spirituality in narrative terms through stories relating to their actual workplace practices but not in measures such as those indicative of a quantitative analysis.

King (2008, 220), for one, considers efforts to find and foster a unified spirituality in organizations “particularly problematic.” If individuals describe their spirituality in deeply subjective ways, as elusive (e.g., “not one thing”) and if this is connecting to sensemaking of workplace spirituality, perhaps we should stop searching for the elusive or even evasive singular definition of organizational spirituality. As Whitehead (1925, 250) suggested, “What further can be known about God must be sought in the region of particular experiences.”

In contrast to references to a renewal, reawakening, or even emergence of spirituality in workplaces over the past few decades, we adopt Teilhard de Chardin’s perspective that we have actually always had spiritually based organizations. In this sense, we are all capable of applying transcendental ethical values to immanent ethical actions in our workplaces. In most cases, the businesses in our study have passed spiritual values along from one (or more) generation(s) to the next. Definitely, the meaning of spirituality in relation to work has changed over time and continues to change over different contexts. Therefore, there remain significant opportunities to explore different aspects of the sacred-secular interface in business organizations (Tracey, Phillips, and Lounsbury 2014). In addition, we acknowledge the increasing academic interest in the spirituality-entrepreneurship interface (e.g., Balog, Baker, and Walker 2014; Busenitiz and Lichtenstein 2018; Kauanui et al. 2010) and encourage future study of this topic.

Our study leads to several additional research questions: First, how can we better understand sanctity in a business setting? Is it transcendent, far away or mostly mundane, everyday-spirituality put into practice, on a journey? PKNG provided the only explicit example of the challenges found in trying to balance the spirituality of employees and the culture that the organization is trying to create. None of our participants mentioned religious discrimination or threats of lawsuits. Is there something about the nature of workplace spirituality in and for small businesses, possibly to do with less technocracy, bureaucracy, and instrumentalism; different working conditions; or a closer proximity to stakeholders? Is meaning easier to be supplied in and through work in a smaller business? Do small businesses not experience power, greed, and crises to the same degree as large corporations that possibly push pursuit of personal transformation and search for meaning in pursuit of profit? For example, Wickert, Scherer, and Spence (2016), among others, have found that small businesses are more likely to realize CSR activities as compared to large businesses. How are spiritual and religious values passed on to the next generation in family businesses and in businesses that feel like family that want to ensure succession of spiritual values? In addition, what about a possible dark side to small business spiritual leadership given the close leader-culture connection? We encourage future collaborative research among scholars in the fields of business ethics, organizational and management theory, MSR, theology and religious studies, critical management studies, and small business and entrepreneurship.

Conclusions

Our findings relate to a specific and purposeful exploratory study and therefore cannot be generalized to all small businesses or small business leaders who integrate spirituality into their organizations. We strive to see spirituality more critically and systematically integrated into management and business ethics theories based on experience. We encourage research that studies well told narratives of the experiences of spirituality within workplaces and spiritual connections with stakeholders.

The study of workplace spirituality is one that requires openness to narratives by business leaders that express what is intended and understood by their spirituality at work. To respect the practice of organizational spirituality as it was found in this study is to respect the diversity of perspectives on what spirituality means and to come to understand that the expression of the spiritual/ethical values in practice and in relationship is what really matters. Each of our participants nurtured their own unique story of how spirituality is embodied at work in caring and compassionate ways that make a positive difference to stakeholders. The positive values and ethics that are related to the religious and spiritual traditions expressed here are also present in the businesses we examined, making them examples of positive environments for stakeholders including workers, community, and the natural environment. Spirituality as it was expressed in this study integrated transcendent ethical values from many sources and applied them to positive immanent ethical actions in these respective workplaces/businesses. We offer others an encouragement to study spirituality as it relates to work, business, and organizations more inclusively and broadly to come to better understand and value the depth of spirit that is present in business organizations by viewing the positive outcomes as they are materially manifested and expressed as spirituality by participants. In short, our participants have taught us that there are many ways to express spirituality creatively, foster and find spiritual space, and build spiritual ties in work and workplaces that are not explicitly or strategically planned, but rather spiritually infused and inspired.

Acknowledgement

We would like to thank the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada for funding and support of this research project.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Funding

The Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada has partially funded this research [864-2007-0039].

Notes

1. The first author attended three community meetings held at REST. REST sponsored these events and the owner and founder was actively involved.

Appendix

Data coding structure

Table

Third-order Code	Second-order Code	Examples of First-order Codes
Spirituality as immanent and involved	Connecting to greater power or purpose	Spirit, universe, community, vision, God, higher calling, love for other, greater power
	Creating spiritual space	Subtly, substantively, shared meaning, shared identity, physical design, processes, integration of values, ritual, ceremony
	Finding spiritual space	Role-modeling of ancestors, identity, authentic stakeholder interactions, providence, surrender and service to other
	Applying spiritual values and principles to ethical practices	Choice of products, stakeholder interactions, stakeholder responsibilities, personal sacrifices, integrity, excellence
	Building spiritual ties with stakeholders	honoring stakeholders; ancestral and family ties; customer, employee, and/or supplier service
As integral and interconnected	Integral and interconnected	Whole life, alignment, interconnected, connections
	Spirituality and community	Spiritual, local, global, and/or nature community