Journal of Business Ethics (2008) 82:449462 DOI 10.

1007/s10551-008-9896-8

Springer 2008

The Inuence of Christian Identity on SME OwnerManagers Conceptualisations of Business Practice

Andrea Werner

ABSTRACT. This paper reports on the findings of a qualitative study to understand how active adherence to the Christian faith influences the way SME owner managers conceptualise their business practices. The study was based on in-depth interviews with 21 Christian SME ownermanagers in Germany and the UK. Using a sociopsychological approach, the data analysis yielded a range of linguistic and conceptual resources that are peculiar to Christian discourse and that have the potential to influence business activity in rather distinctive ways. This paper particularly focuses on those Christian concepts that could be regarded as distinct frames for action. It outlines what effect these concepts had on the respondents and how they were related to business practices. The paper also discusses how this study could inform further research into the influence of other socio-cultural forms of identity on economic actors conceptualisations of their own practice. KEY WORDS: business practice, Christianity, discursive framing, Germany, small- to medium-sized enterprises, social psychology, socio-cultural identity, UK

Introduction The theme of this conference is European Identity in Business and Social Ethics. Its premise is that the European context has given shape to distinct ways of carrying out economic activity, reecting distinct underlying social norms, values and beliefs. The question is asked to what extent European identity still impacts on business practices in an era of the increasing proliferation and predominance of the US American business model in a globalised world. The theme of identity was also taken up in the study on which this paper reports in particular, the role of Christianity as an intermediary social

institution and identity-creating context. The study sought to nd out to what extent and how Christian religious identity impacts on the way business activity is carried out. The focus on Christianity was rooted in the fact that it has been one of the strongest and longest standing socio-cultural institutions in Europe (and the Western world) that has based on transcendent beliefs espoused other regarding norms and values (cf. Hendry, 2004, p. 126). Christian values, norms and beliefs can have a considerable impact on how social actors interact with others in society and the economic sphere. However, secularisation processes particularly in the European context suggest a decline in the inuence of Christianity. Although the majority of the population still claims nominal afliation to the Christian religion, fewer and fewer people actively practice Christianity, as the strong decline in church attendance indicates (Hall, 1999, p. 429; Offe and Fuchs, 2001, p. 433). As a result, at least the overt inuence of Christianity has been waning. At the same time, a number of scholars argue that secularisation goes hand in hand with a privatisation of religion (e.g. Fort, 1999; Herms, 1991). This means that those societal actors who (still) regard themselves as Christians might consider religious moral tenets to be relevant only for their private sphere and not for their participation in the public sphere; or that they might divide their lives into a sacred and a secular part, with the former not impinging on the latter. These developments raise the attention in analogy to the conference theme to what extent does Christianity still have an impact on economic activity? The study was particularly concerned with how Christian identity affects the way individual economic actors carry out their business activities.

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Andrea Werner from socio-cultural contexts (interpersonal, political, historical, etc.) impact on the way social actors carry out economic activity. Such identity-creating contexts contain certain clusters of signications, norms, rules and conventions which can provide constraints or enablers for action (Giddens, 1984; Harre and Gillett, 1994). The aim of this study was to gain an in-depth understanding of how Christianity as one such context may, with its underlying beliefs, norms and values, impact on the way SME ownermanagers as one particular group of economic actors carry out their business activities. Another aim was to explore what other facets of identity might have an (interacting) inuence on this group of economic actors.

Singled out for investigation were ownermanagers of small- to medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) who consider themselves practising Christians. The reason for this focus lay in the fact that in SMEs ownership and control coincide and that therefore owner managers are thought to be in a better position to bring their personal values to bear on their business compared, for example, to managers who act on behalf of absent shareholders (Spence, 1999). In other words, it was assumed that if Christian identity does have an impact on economic activity, this group of economic actors will be relatively likely to reveal such effects. A further, comparative dimension was allowed by carrying out the research in two countries, Germany and the UK. This embedded the research in a European context and enabled an exploration of possible national differences. The study was based on qualitative, in-depth interviews with 21 SME ownermanagers (10 from Germany, 11 from the UK) who considered themselves practising Christians. A socio-psychological framework was used for data analysis. This analytical approach centres on how respondents draw on available discursive resources to conceptualise and rationalise their practices (Harre and Gillett, 1994; Watson and Harris, 1999). This paper explores the Christian conceptual frames to which the respondents referred in their accounts, and explains what effects these concepts had on the respondents and how they were linked to business practice. The following section will outline in more detail how the research was conceptualised and framed, and give a brief evaluation of previous empirical studies that have looked at the relationship between Christianity/religiosity and economic activity. Further, a description of the research methodology is given. Then, the research ndings will be presented, analysed and discussed. The concluding section reects on the advantages and limitations of the chosen methodological framework and makes some suggestions for further research.

Previous research A number of previous empirical studies have sought to investigate the impact of Christianity or religiosity more generally on economic activity, but in addition to the fact that almost none of them have specically focused on SME ownermanagers they have provided only limited understanding of the research issue. Most empirical studies in this area have employed quantitative methods, investigating the relationship between intrinsic religiousness and levels of ethical judgment in business situations (Clark and Dawson, 1996; Longenecker et al., 2004), religiousness and willingness to engage in unethical behaviour (Kennedy and Lawton, 1998), religious beliefs and practice and attitudes towards Corporate Social Responsibility (Agle and van Buren, 1999). These studies have been inconclusive in their results, which may be partly explained by their use of different samples (business students versus business executives) and the diversity in which the research phenomenon was conceptualised (Weaver and Agle, 2002). Furthermore, these studies have focused on attitudinal measures only (ibid.), while the use of quantitative techniques only allowed the research ndings to be phrased in very general terms (e.g. negative, positive, weak relationship). Thus, these studies have not provided an in-depth understanding of how and why Christianity might inuence economic activity. Studies that have taken up qualitative approaches seeking to obtain more in-depth insights only partly contribute to an understanding of the research issue.

Setting up the research The research issue The issue explored in this study is a specic case of the more general issue of how identities derived

The Inuence of Christian Identity on SME OwnerManagers Conceptualisations of Business Practice For example, Lee et al. (2003) sought to explore to what extent a particular Christianity and Business Culture typology was prevalent in the accounts of Christian executives in Hong Kong. Their study yielded insights into the diversity with which the link between faith and business practice may be rationalised by Christian business people. However, the imposed typology framework did not allow for an in-depth exploration of the underlying beliefs and values of the reported practices. Nashs (1994) interview-based study, on the other hand, focused specically on how evangelical executives deal with tensions that may arise between Christian tenets and economic activity. Nash also mentions some specic Christian concepts, such as stewardship, which might inform these peoples business practices. The study most relevant to the research issue seems to be Roels (1997) work on evangelical business-owners. She mapped out a number of Christian concepts that she considered to be meaningful to these people piety, witnessing, tithing and neighbourliness but her report is based solely on personal observations and anecdotal evidence and does not provide much detailed insight into how these concepts are adopted in a business context. The studies of Nash (1994) and Roels (1997) did not systematically draw out the effects of Christian beliefs and concepts on business activity and both studies were conducted in a US American context (as were most of the above studies). This leaves room for studies on Christian business people in other national contexts. In addition, none of the above studies have unlike the study on which this paper reports explicitly considered the mediating inuence of other identity-creating contexts.

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socio-psychological analysis the focus is also on the individual: it seeks to understand how an individuals socio-cultural contexts as discourses or discursive contexts shape their cognition and inuence the way they conceptualise their worlds of practice (Harre and Gillett, 1994). Interview-based research that utilises a socio-psychological approach provides insight into how individuals draw on linguistic and conceptual resources made available through these discursive contexts to frame and rationalise their practices (Watson and Harris, 1999). The ndings of such research then allow the researcher to draw some conclusions as to how these contexts may affect the individuals attitudes and behaviours. For the purpose of this study, the socio-psychological framework was utilised as follows. Christianity was considered one specic discursive context that the respondents inhabit and that can have an impact on the way they conceptualise their business practices. Through in-depth interviews, the research sought to uncover how SME ownermanagers draw on Christian (and other) discursive resources in relation to their business activities and how they link these concepts to specic practices.

Carrying out the research The research sample Interviews were carried out among 21 SME owner managers from the UK (11 respondents) and Germany (10 respondents). The decision to conduct the study in these two national contexts was driven by considerations of access, language and familiarity, with two contrasting socio-institutional frameworks allowing for a preliminary exploration of national differences (Lane, 1992). The respondents chosen for the investigation would describe themselves as practising Christian and could be loosely labelled as conservative Protestants, i.e. as Protestant Christians that adhere to conservative, Bible-based beliefs. As such, they came from traditional and evangelical strands of Protestant mainstream and free churches (see Appendix). This particular group of Christians was chosen largely for reasons of access, respondents being contacted mainly through Christian business networks and personal contacts. The sample contained a

Methodological framework A socio-psychological framework was identied as a suitable methodological approach for the study. Drawing on ideas promoted in Harre and Gilletts (1994) discursive psychology and Watson and Harris (1999) discursive framing approach, it was considered as able to capture the research issue as well as accommodate the choice of research method: qualitative in-depth interviews. The aim of qualitative interviews is to understand a certain issue from an individuals point of view. In a

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Andrea Werner languages and quotations from German respondents are here translated. Data analysis The data analysis uncovered ve different Christian concepts or conceptual frames from the interview material: calling, stewardship, witness, holiness and general Christian moral tenets. They differ in their signications, as they presume different understandings of the relationship between faith and actions. They are not to be regarded as elements of a typology as the respondents often referred to more than one of these concepts in their accounts. The following subsections will outline how each concept or frame was used by the people in the study and include some comments and observations on its effects. Calling The rst Christian concept which carried meaning for a number of respondents in relation to their business was that of calling or vocation. In Christian tradition, the concept of calling has a number of different connotations, ranging from a more general understanding of being called to salvation and to follow Christ to being called to a specic task or role (Atkinson, 1988). In the context of the study, calling was identied as a frame when respondents talked generally about God wanting me to be in this place or God wanting me to do this in relation to their business. The data analysis found that people in the study engaged with the concept of calling in various different ways, reecting the numerous connotations that this concept has in Christian tradition. These different interpretations also had different implications for their business practices. Some respondents stated that they had engaged with the concept of calling to work out whether it was acceptable for them as Christians to run a business or whether they should follow a more worthwhile call and become a minister or a missionary, such as UK3:
In fact after all these years Ive worked out that there isnt any conict. When I rst became a Christian I would spend the rst ve years wondering whether I was gonna be a missionary And it was

range of sectors and company sizes (see Appendix). Some efforts were made to match the set-up of the two country samples in terms of sectors, as it was thought that sector-specic features might play some role in the way ownermanagers conceptualise their business practices (cf. Curran and Blackburn, 2001, pp. 1619).

Data collection and analysis In the interviews, an inductive strategy was pursued in order to ensure that the phenomenon was captured from the respondents point of view. Respondents were asked general questions concerning the link between faith and business practices (e.g. How does your faith inuence your business decisions? To what extent does your faith conict with your business?) as well as open-ended questions concerning their business and faith background. In a follow-up interview, the researcher used leads from the rst interview to probe the respondents further for examples and incidents that could illuminate the relationship between faith and business practice. Applying the discursive framing approach, the researcher identied from the data material a number of different aspects concerning the relationship between the respondents beliefs and their practices. The following data analysis section will report on specic Christian conceptual frames to which respondents referred in their accounts. These concepts can be loosely understood as different facets of Christian identity that the respondents take on when rationalising and explaining their actions (cf. Weick, 1995, p. 24). The presentation of the data analysis will not contain any quantied statements about the use of these concepts. Instead, examples from the data will show the effect of these concepts on the respondents and so illustrate where and how Christianity might make a difference. The subsequent section will discuss the research ndings further and also make some reference to other socio-cultural discourses that might play a part in Christian SME ownermanagers conceptualisations of practice. The respondents will be referred to by reference numbers. D denotes a German respondent, UK a British one. The numbers indicate the chronological order in which the interviews were carried out. Respondents were interviewed in their own

The Inuence of Christian Identity on SME OwnerManagers Conceptualisations of Business Practice

about ve years before someone said Well, where were you when you were called? And I said Well, I was here selling houses. If youve got nothing to the contrary, thats where youre supposed to be. Oh, really? [laughs] (UK3, estate agent).

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This entailed for these respondents that they had to work out for themselves how owning and running a business and being a Christian tted together, and throughout their accounts they reported how they sought to reconcile these two spheres of their lives, often by referring to other Christian concepts, such as witness and stewardship (see following subsections). Other respondents said that they believed that God had called them to run the business, but related the concept of calling to narrow spiritual purposes, such as the opportunity to raise money for Christian causes through the business or their duty to verbally communicate their faith in their business context. For example, D9, who co-runs his business with two non-Christians, felt that God had called him to be an ambassador for Christ in his company. This he interpreted as a duty to invite his co-owners and employees to Christian outreach (evangelism) events. These narrow spiritual interpretations which seemed to make less of an impact on the way business activities were carried out contrasted with the interpretation of a third set of respondents. Here, calling was related to the respondents general approach to running their businesses, and this led the respondents to conceptualise a number of their business practices in ways that take the good of others into account. For example, UK7, who runs an engineering company, consciously rejected a narrow spiritual interpretation of the concept and stated that he believed that God had called him to live out the Christian faith in the workplace.
And I would say my priority in business is to live out the Christian faith in the workplace. Im not called to be the pastor of a church, Im not called to be a missionary overseas. Im called to live out my Christian faith in the place where I work. (UK7, engineering)

community through their businesses. By doing so they came close to the interpretation of calling that was advanced by the reformer Martin Luther. He had extended the concept of calling beyond the spiritual realm and argued that believers were also called to their place of work, where through providing a service to others they were in fact serving and glorifying God (Childs, 1995). UK11, for example, rationalised her decision to set-up her optician business in a relatively run-down area in terms of being put there by God to serve the local community.
Well I think I serve the community. I think thats quite signicant with my business, because there isnt another optician in that community. So I feel particularly that Ive been put there to serve the community, provide them with a service they wouldnt have had otherwise. (UK11, optician)

Serving the community meant for these respondents who both ran businesses in the healthcare sector among other things not to charge for certain services and it also affected the way they dealt with vulnerable and disadvantaged customers. Stewardship Another Christian concept that was meaningful for a number of respondents was that of stewardship. The stewardship frame was attributed to the respondents accounts when they talked about their belief that God had entrusted something (e.g. their business) or someone (e.g. their employees) to them or when they explicitly referred to themselves as stewards. Such beliefs created in the respondents a sense of responsibility and accountability to God for what they did in their businesses, as the following statements illustrate.
Im convinced that when we die well stand before Jesus. Well be asked how we treated the people who were entrusted to us. Well be asked about how we used the talents and gifts we were given. (D10, manufacture of measuring instruments). I mean, you know, I feel a responsibility to God to look after the business, I mean, He gave me it I guess. (UK11, optician)

This belief led him to conceptualise a range of business practices as stewardship responsibilities (see next subsection). Two other respondents (UK10 and UK11) stated their belief that they were called by God to serve the

Whereas secular business people might also refer to the concept of stewardship when seeking to use

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are their weaknesses. That employees have the chance to build on their strengths. To get a sense of achievement from it. So that they can develop personally. (D10, manufacture of measuring instruments)

business-related resources in a responsible manner, the belief that God is the one that entrusts believers with resources distinguishes it as a religious concept. Allport argues that the thought, feeling and behaviour of individuals are inuenced by the actual, imagined or implied presence of others (1985, p. 3 cited in Weick, 1995, p. 39). In the case of Christian stewardship, this other refers to God or Jesus Christ whose presence in the thoughts of Christian owner managers may create a rather strong sense of accountability and responsibility and thus a strong motivation to act in a certain way. At the same time, stewardship as a faith-related concept is not unique to Christianity. The concept is also known in Judaism and Islam (Webley, 1999) and may thus be more peculiar to monotheistic faiths, where believers relate to an omnipresent God who is regarded as the provider of all resources and to whom believers feel accountable. Interestingly, the respondents who referred to the stewardship concept varied enormously in the way they engaged with it and linked it to their business practices. Some respondents linked it to matters of business conduct, such as D4.
We get contracts because customers know we dont defraud them. And thats a very important factor. Because Im a steward. (D4, heating and plumbing)

One might argue that such focus on the development of ones employees gifts and talents is simply good management practice or an expression of enlightened self-interest, and may thus also be pursued by non-Christian business people. The difference might be that within the Christian framework of belief the potential and gifts of individuals are regarded as given by God, and therefore Christian ownermanagers may have a somewhat different or stronger motivation to further their employees gifts and potential. D10s account, for example, showed clearly that he was also particularly concerned about the personal development of his employees, beyond their contribution to the business.

Witness In contrast to the concepts mentioned above, which are more directly related to a business or work context, the respondents also engaged with Christian concepts that are more general in nature, i.e. concepts that might be used by any believer and that might be applied in a range of contexts. One of these conceptual frames, which had a rather strong impact for a number of respondents, was the witness concept. In contrast to the common usage of the term witness, in a Christian context it refers to bearing witness about the Christian faith to others (nonbelievers) through ones actions and/or through ones words. In the study, two main types of engagement with and interpretation of the witness concept were identied in the respondents accounts. First, a number of people engaged with what could be called the negative version of the witness concept. They believed that they had a responsibility not to behave in a way that would bring Christianity into disrepute or make it lose its credibility. One of them was UK3, an estate agent, who said this:
I try to make sure that nobody sees me putting a foot wrong. You must remember that this is a very legalistic profession. And I know that Jesus is not a

Others linked the concept of stewardship with a whole range of responsibilities, starting from certain responsibilities towards their employees to nancial stewardship, with one respondent even including environmental responsibilities:
If you are a good steward of your business then you will be looking at the well-being of the environment, the well-being of the people in the business. As well as looking after amounts of money on a prot and loss statement or your balance sheet. (UK7, engineering)

A Christian-based concept that was often mentioned by those who engaged with the stewardship concept was that of gifts and talents particularly in relation to their employees. D10, who had stated that he believed his employees were people that were entrusted to him (see above), was one of them.
Well, the business should be a place where employees can develop their gifts. And that means seeing where their potential is, what are their strengths, what

The Inuence of Christian Identity on SME OwnerManagers Conceptualisations of Business Practice

legalistic God. And on the contrary, he hated religion, legalisation of faith. But if Im not to be a bad example, and then to be judged as a Christian as well as an estate agent, then Ive got to be, if not squeaky clean, then at least reasonably respectable. (UK3, estate agent)

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behaviour. As an example, he talked about the way he sought to treat his customers.
I think a lot of people, not only staff but also customers who have been in the shop, have told me that theres a different, a special atmosphere here. And I trace that back to my faith I believe that something of it shines through. And that people then like coming here because they know that Ill take them seriously no matter how much business I have with them. So I think that people who come in here feel this. (D1, pharmacy)

Respondents like him did not seek to behave in a particular way because they believed that they had to observe certain moral injunctions as part of their faith, but because they did not want to reect anything that might discredit the Christian faith. Part of this reasoning was a judgment of their actions against what was imagined to be the opinions of other (nonChristian) people (cf. Allport, 1985 in previous subsection), i.e. the respondents took into account the expectations that they believed others had towards Christian believers (cf. Weaver and Agle, 2002, p. 83). This became particularly evident when respondents were upfront about their Christian faith to the people around them, as we can see in D10s account:
D10: Since I live in the community, people know that Im a Christian and they keep an eye on me. Youre kind of being checked. Thats not a bad thing. Interviewer: What are people looking for? D10: Well, I guess theyre asking What are they doing? They watch us. I mean, if something goes wrong with Christians, its just the excuse people need to stay away from church. (D10, manufacture of measuring instruments)

The external motivation of witnessing had a different emphasis here than with those people who stated that they did not want to do anything wrong, as it provided the respondents with more of an additional aspiration to live up to certain values, rather than (merely) exert some kind of external discipline. At the same time, elements of internal motivation such as wanting to live out a Christian lifestyle, or developing a Christ-like character may have been more strongly involved here as well (see next subsection). Holiness Another, more general, conceptual frame that was identied in the respondents accounts was what could be described as holiness. The concept of holiness in the Christian tradition usually refers to the moral qualities of believers such as purity, integrity, moral perfection and sanctity, which believers should develop as response to Gods holiness. The person of Jesus Christ is in this context regarded as a role model or pattern of holiness (Mikolaski, 1992). In the study, several respondents engaged with this notion of holiness albeit in different ways. Some people would refer to their aspiration of wanting to be right before God, which led them to not to engage in practices that could be considered illegal or unethical. UK4, who runs a car rental company, said this:
We wont intentionally ever rip anybody off or do anything that was dishonest. I mean, in our kind of business there are plenty of opportunities to defraud customers and the taxman We do our best to make sure that we live and operate our business in a way which would be approved of by God. At the end of the day, to do these things would be sin. I mean, if were cleansed by His

In other words, their awareness of the possible judgment of other people exerted a rather strong discipline on them, compelling them not to do anything wrong. Other people in the study, however, used the witness concept in a more positive way. Their interpretation of being a witness entailed that they sought to communicate something positive about Christianity through their actions, and so raise peoples attention to their faith, as UK5s statement illustrates:
I think its nice for people to have a Christian company to compare with. And by doing our work well thats a witness in itself. (UK5, heating engineer)

D1, on the other hand, talked about the fruit of faith that other people should see through his

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Andrea Werner respondents relationship with God/Christ. In other words, the presence of the other, which has an impact on the way people structure their practices (cf. Allport, 1985), referred here to the (imagined) presence of the transcendent (similar to the stewardship concept) but not to the presence of other people. Similar to the witness concept, the concept of holiness can place a constraint on peoples behaviours but also provide a positive motivation to behave in a particular way.

blood, why sin on small items and spoil your salvation. OK, we can go and ask for forgiveness and all that sort of stuff. But why do it? If you want to be right before God then why go down that line?. (UK4, car rental)

Others referred more specically to the moral example and qualities of Christ that should be reected in their actions. Particularly the question What would Jesus do? seemed to make several people in the study stop and consider their actions in the light of Christs moral example. For example, D2, who runs a property management business, reported how this question provided guidance to him in potential conict situations in his business. He particularly referred to instances where he sought to be considerate of his tenants circumstances.
D2: I set priorities and say to myself I want to do things like I see in the Bible, and what Jesus would have done. So when Im not sure I put my faith rst and Ive done quite well by that. Interviewer: Can you give me an example of how youve let the Bible guide you, of what Jesus would have done? D2: Well, particularly in our line of business, there is often a kind of tightrope walk when people are behind with their rent. How persistent you are and how long youll try and chase those debts up. And Ill look at these people and try to categorise them. And if I believe that someone has problems but theyre not of their own making then well say OK, well leave it at that and well give him another chance. (D2, property management)

General Christian moral tenets A nal conceptual frame identied in the respondents accounts could be described as general Christian moral tenets. Here, they rationalised their actions by saying that they felt they should act in a certain way because they were Christian, but they did not explicitly link their behaviours with specic spiritual frameworks such as the ones that were mentioned in the previous subsections. As a more encompassing frame, the people in the study referred to Christian moral tenets in various different ways. They would talk about following Christian principles, duties or responsibilities that they found in or derived from the Bible. The following respondent, for example, mentioned his principle of being reliable and of making his word his bond while giving an account about his relationship to one of his business partners.
I used to ring him up from time to time and say (NAME), I really think we should have something in writing. What if, what if there is a misunderstanding? And he said Im sure if there is a misunderstanding, we can sort it out. So that was on the basis of Christian ways of doing things, you are reliable. And your word is your bond. (UK1, ceramics industry projects and manufacture of birthpool liners)

Finally, one respondent explicitly stated how Christ had served him as a role model, guiding his decision to take on an apprentice from a disadvantaged background.
As a Christian youve got to look at the, you know, Jesus rst ministry was often to the outcast in society the taxmen, the prostitutes and I guess a youngster whos had a brush with the law and has decided to go straight So I just started a new lad last week. (UK9, building services)

Whereas the concept of holiness is also a more general concept like witness, the motivation to act in a particular way was rooted here not in an external but more internal motivation, as it related to the

One might argue that these principles are rather commonplace, easily shared with other religious and non-religious frameworks. But framing these principles as Christian principles could still make a difference for the ownermanagers, as although not verbalised they might be aware of the presence of the transcendent in their lives, which could create a strong motivation to act in particular ways.

The Inuence of Christian Identity on SME OwnerManagers Conceptualisations of Business Practice Other people in the study referred to principles or norms that might be considered to be more peculiar to Christianity. Some respondents, for example, would say that because they were Christians they refused to trade on Sundays. Others would refer to the Christian duty to forgive others, such as D8:
Interviewer: How does your faith inuence what you do in your business? [paraphrased] D8: Well . maybe my employees say at times that Im too ready to give in, too soft, but I simply cant, its certainly to do with ones character, too. But I believe you cant be a Christian in your private life and think differently in business Perhaps others can. Of course, you are then, well, perhaps more forgiving. More willing to give in, more willing to compromise. (D8, building)

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Distinctiveness, strength and effectiveness of Christian conceptual resources The main nding was that the respondents Christianity does make a difference as it provides them with a range of distinct linguistic and conceptual resources; resources that are not available in that way to nonChristian economic actors. These resources lead them to frame their practices in a highly distinctive way which can and probably will have far-reaching implications for the way they carry out their business activities. The distinctiveness and strength of these Christian resources lie with their signications which in one way or another relate to the presence of the transcendent and so provide distinct constraints and enablers for action (cf. Giddens, 1984). The actions of Christian ownermanagers can, for example, be constrained by a sense of accountability and responsibility to God (as with the concepts of stewardship or holiness), or by the awareness that other people might judge their actions in the light of their faith (as with the negative version of the witness concept). At the same time, the belief that God has called them to their place of work or their desire to reect Christs holiness can provide positive motivations for action. Whereas these conceptual resources are not available in that way to non-Christian economic actors, some of these resources may be regarded as being more distinct than others. For instance, the witness or the holiness concept may be considered to be more distinctive than the stewardship concept or the reference to general Christian moral tenets, as the latter ones might to some extent overlap with other religious and non-religious moral frameworks. Also, some of these concepts seem to be more related to a business or work context, such as calling and stewardship. Others seem to be more general in nature, such as witness, holiness and the reference to general Christian moral tenets; here the business context is just one behavioural context among others in which these concepts might be used. The study found that the effectiveness of these concepts depend on the way individual Christian ownermanagers engage and interpret them. For example, calling was interpreted by some respondents as referring to narrow spiritual responsibilities only and by others in ways that affected a range of their business practices. A narrow spiritual interpretation might be an indication of a sacred-secular divide in

At the same time, people who used the frame of general Christian moral tenets often rationalised their practices not only in terms of their Christian motivation but also acknowledged the presence of interacting inuences or motivations. D8, for example, stated in his account (see above) that his willingness to forgive may have also been the consequence of his soft character. Another example was D5s statement that paying correct taxes was not only a Christian thing to do but that he would also feel terrible if he did not do so.
I dont mind paying taxes, Im kind of Christian when it comes to taxes, I dont think its right if you try to evade tax. The taxes Im required to pay, I will pay. I wouldnt have it otherwise, Id feel terrible if I knew Ive knowingly defrauded the government. (D5, printing)

In those cases it is interesting to debate whether character or conscience inuence the way the Christian faith is interpreted and applied to ones practices or whether ones religious faith shapes character and conscience, which in turn has implications for the ownermanagers actions.

Discussion The aim of this study was to explore if and how religious (Christian) identity may make a difference in the way a particular group of economic actors SME ownermanagers conceptualise their worlds of business practice.

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Andrea Werner (God-given) gifts and talents. Even though these concepts might be shared with other religious and non-religious frameworks, each of them has a specic Christian rationale, and so they can provide distinct motivations for engaging in environmentally friendly practices, putting service before prot and being concerned about the use and development of employees gifts and potential. Finally, some practices on which the respondents reported could be described as other-regarding behaviours, where the respondents showed themselves considerate of the needs and interests of other people or where they actively offered help to others. Examples were D8 and D2s accounts of how they sought to be forgiving and considerate towards others in their business contexts. Another example was UK9s willingness to help a disadvantaged young person by taking him on as an apprentice. In short, the distinctiveness, strength and effectiveness of the Christian inuence on ownermanagers attitudes and behaviours may depend on three things: the range of Christian concepts on which they draw in relation to their worlds of business practice, the way they interpret these concepts and how they link these concepts with different areas of their business activities. This inevitably differs from individual to individual. The diversity among Christian ownermanagers may be explained by differences in exposure to Christian teaching, differences in personal engagement with Christian thought and teaching, but also by the co-presence of a number of interacting inuences.

the lives of these ownermanagers. Another example was the witness concept. Whereas a number of respondents interpreted it in negative terms, i.e. in terms of not wanting to do anything wrong, others interpreted it as an opportunity to communicate something positive about their faith. Whereas in the former case the witness concept acted primarily as a constraint and was often linked to matters of moral conduct, in the latter case it was more perceived as an enabler and linked to a wider range of practices. Another way of assessing the effectiveness of the inuence of Christian identity is to look at the different areas of practice that the respondents linked with their faith. A number of respondents despite drawing from a range of Christian concepts would primarily relate their faith to practices that in themselves are not specically Christian; such as reliability and honesty in business dealings, the provision of a good service or even to legal obligations, such as paying correct taxes. As such, they would not necessarily stand out from other owner managers who adhere to certain moral standards and to the law, and the only difference might be the way in which these practices are rationalised and framed. However, these practices might become extraordinary practices if competitors do not have the same standards or if adherence to moral principles or the law puts them at a disadvantage. Other practices seemed to be very specically Christian, such as the refusal of some respondents to trade on Sundays practices that particularly stand out in the increasingly secularised cultures in which the study was conducted. Thirdly, in a number of instances, distinct Christian motivations were translated into more or less distinct practices, practices that regard the good of others. Those practices may not be exclusively Christian, but the Christian framework of belief provides a strong rationale for engaging in them. An example where Christianity might make a particularly strong impact was when respondents alluded to the Christian belief that everyone is made in the image of God and that everyone is created equal. One example of this was D1s account of the way he sought to treat his customers, namely seeking to treat each one of them equally well, independent of the size of business he had with them. Other practices that made more of a difference came from the direct application of Christian-based concepts such as stewardship, service for the community and

Interacting inuence of other identities An inuence that certainly played an important interacting role for a number of respondents was their identity as business people, as they framed their Christian practices in such ways that they could be regarded as expressions of enlightened self-interest. Examples were some respondents awareness that honest business dealings will attract customers (e.g. D4) or that the development of their employees gifts and talents will ultimately benet the business. Apart from the implied co-presence of enlightened self-interest, the study uncovered further inuences that may have a reinforcing or complementary impact, at least on certain types of behav-

The Inuence of Christian Identity on SME OwnerManagers Conceptualisations of Business Practice iours. As noted earlier, some respondents referred to their conscience and their character as having an impact on their behaviour, and the question arises whether the respondents faith shapes their conscience or character or whether their character and conscience leads them to interpret Christianity in a particular way. Another inuence that was mentioned by a number of respondents was their upbringing, Christian or otherwise. Thus, the context of the family also seemed to have an important (interacting) inuence on the respondents behaviours. The respondents professional identity was also quite frequently mentioned, for example, when the respondents talked about matters of business conduct and about the quality of their service. One might also argue that where respondents talked about providing a service to the community (UK10 and UK11) their professional identity might have played an important part as well. The fact that both respondents who framed their practices that way run healthcare business and are thus expected to display a caring professional image may have had a strong interacting inuence on their religious motivations.

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Inuence of national contexts Finally, as the study was carried out in two distinct national cultures, some conclusions with regards to the interacting inuence of the national context could be drawn. Whereas there were certain differences between the German and British accounts that could be traced back to the different societal structures within which business activity is taking place, in terms of the impact of faith the accounts of the respondents in both sub-samples were rather similar. Respondents of both nationalities referred to the same range of Christian concepts to frame their practices. People in both samples would also refer to the biblical concept of gifts and talents in relation to their employees, to their aspiration to provide a high quality service, to their Christian responsibility to be honest and reliable in their business dealings and to their obligation to pay correct taxes. The fact that faith was linked with similar practices implies that the shared religious identity might be stronger than the national identity. However, the study found that in a few places the national context seemed to make some difference in the way practices were conceptualised from a faith

perspective. For instance, even though the German respondents seemed generally more concerned about environmental friendly practices than their British counterparts, only British respondents would use strong religious language to frame their engagement with environmentally sustainable practices. A possible explanation for this might be that in Germany owner managers are required by law to adhere to high environmental standards, and environmental friendly practices are also part of their national culture. So they may see no need to apply a particular spiritual motivation to environmental friendly practices. Another example was the reference to Sunday trading. Only British respondents talked about not working on Sundays and this was probably inuenced by the fact that Sunday trading is regarded more of a normal societal practice in the UK than in Germany, where the law (still) limits Sunday trading. One may conclude from those examples that the absence of certain societal structures might make a spiritual motivation to engage in certain practices stronger if some spiritual signicance is recognised there. At the same time, the presence of such societal structures might lead owner managers not to consider particular practices from a spiritual point of view, because the law or cultural practices already cover them.

Further research A socio-psychological analysis as adopted in this study can be regarded as a suitable framework for gaining an in-depth understanding of the inuence of a particular socio-cultural identity on an economic actors conceptualisations of business practice. Using an inductive approach and identifying the linguistic and conceptual resources that are linked to this context and to which the respondents attach meaning, and mapping out their distinct signications with their specic constraints and enablers provides rich insight into the potential effect of such context. In particular, the insights gained from the study concerning the impact of Christian religion make an important contribution to existing empirical work in this area, as it adds a complementary, in-depth perspective. The obvious limitation of this socio-psychological approach lies in the fact that it focuses solely on the way these actors rationalise their practices in their accounts in relation to a particular discursive context

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Andrea Werner interesting to nd out whether Jewish and Muslim business people draw equally strongly on the stewardship concept as their Christian counterparts, given that the concept of stewardship is also known in these two religious traditions. Finally, it would be worthwhile exploring what identity-creating socio-cultural frameworks nonreligious economic actors use to conceptualise their worlds of business practice and how they are used particularly within the secularised European context. Will it be primarily frameworks such as professional, familial or geographical identity (e.g. local community, nationality) and to what extent might these contexts still contain vestiges of Christian thought? Also, as noted earlier, this study found that the distinctiveness of the Christian context and its conceptual resources relates particularly to the presence of a transcendent other. This seems to create rather strong and powerful motivations and symbolic patterns of accountability. In frameworks that do not refer to the divine or the transcendent, who would be the other to whom people feel accountable? Would this sense of accountability arise from the presence of other individuals who also partake in these contexts? Would it be similarly strong to a religious identity as the accounts in this study implied or would it be easier for individuals to leave these identities behind in a business context? These are questions that should be further explored in qualitative empirical studies. Their ndings could provide further valuable insights into the problem of how socio-cultural identities inuence the way economic activity is carried out.

and not on observed practices. However, the strength of the language that the respondents used would imply that their Christian beliefs would have a bearing on their actual practices. At the same time, subsequent research that utilises different methods such as participant observation or interviews with stakeholders would help to conrm whether Christian ownermanagers personal accounts are congruent with actual behaviours. The other possible limitation of the study, which comes from the sample size, is whether the research uncovered all possible Christian concepts that could be used as frames for action. However, the fact that the concepts were used repeatedly across the sample indicates that most of them were. This study with its distinct methodological approach provides a basis for further research into the inuence of socio-cultural identity on economic activity. As it focused on Christian SME owner managers, it would be interesting to explore how other groups of economic actors who adhere to the Christian faith, such as managers in large publicly listed companies, draw on Christian discourse and relate it to their practices. One might argue that the SME context provides a particularly favourable context for bringing Christian values to bear on business practices, as there are no agency issues. It would be interesting to nd out to what extent organisational constraints of listed companies impinge on the way the link between personal faith and business practice is conceptualised. Another interesting subsequent research project would be a socio-psychological study into other Christian traditions, such as Catholicism, and other religions, such as Islam, Sikhism, Buddhism or Judaism; exploring what religious concepts are meaningful to adherents of these faiths, what effect these concepts have on them and how these are linked to practices. The research ndings could be then compared with the ndings of this study. For example, it would be

Acknowledgements
The author would like to thank Prof John Hendry, Dr Nicole Dando and the reviewers for their helpful comments and feedback.

The Inuence of Christian Identity on SME OwnerManagers Conceptualisations of Business Practice Appendix: Research sample
Main line of business D1 D2 D3 D4 D5 D6 D7 D8 D9 D10 UK1 UK2 UK3 UK4 UK5 UK6 UK7 UK8 UK9 UK10 UK11 Pharmacy Property management Mobile home rental Heating and plumbing installation and service Printing Decorating and special surface coatings Optician Industrial building services (specialising in demolition work) Safety analysis projects and software development Manufacture of measuring instruments Project management in the ceramics industry and manufacture of birthpool liners Manufacture of metal parts Estate Agent Car and van rental Heating installation and service Civil Engineering Engineering Industrial design Building services Pharmacy Optician Employees 10 4 0 65 20 3 7 20 10 11 1 70 4 18 5 100 25 14 2 7 7 Church afliation

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United State Church (evangelical) Pietistic Church Fellowship United State Church (evangelical) Pentecostal Independent Free Church/Moravian United State Church (evangelical) United State Church (evangelical) United State Church Pietistic Church Fellowship/ United State Church Lutheran State Church Anglican Anglican Anglican (evangelical) Pentecostal Anglican (evangelical) Anglican Anglican/Pentecostal Baptist Anglican (evangelical) Methodist/Congregational Independent Free Church/Methodist

D denotes the German participants in the study, UK the British ones. Some respondents claimed afliation to more than one denomination. The rst denomination listed in the table denotes their main/current afliation. Evangelical is only noted where the respondents explicitly pointed out that their church was evangelical. All respondents were male, with the exception of UK11.

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Institute of Business Ethics, 24 Greencoat Place, London, SW1P 1BE, U.K. E-mail: andrea_werner@hotmail.co.uk