Change in Religious Affiliation and Family Stability

Firm religiosity, bounded stakeholder salience, and stakeholder relationships in family firms

“…The interaction of individual and firm religiosity is also expected to have a significant impact on the cognitive processes of managers and other employees as well as the extent to which they identify with the organization (Burke 1980, Stryker andSerpe 1982). We argue that the influence of religiosity in family firms is unique because the dominant coalition is composed of family owner-managers who are more likely to have homogenous religious beliefs (Babchuk et al 1967, Arregle et al 2007, non-economic goals (Chrisman et al 2012), a long-term time horizon (James 1999), and greater decision-making discretion than the dominant coalitions of non-family firms. In both family and non-family firms, identification with a particular religion may impact the role expectations and subsequent behaviors of firm actors (Stryker 1968, Burke 1980, Magill 1992, Stryker and Burke 2000.…”

“…The belief structures of family members are usually more homogenous than would be the case among a set of unrelated individuals (Babchuk et al 1967, Stewart 2003. Therefore, when compared to non-family firms, the dominant coalition in family firms is expected to have a more homogenous set of religious beliefs.…”

Religious Brand Loyalty and Political Loyalties

“…Over the same general period, Americans were losing their loyalties to political parties (Converse 1976;Verba, Nie, and Petrocik 1976;Wattenberg 1996;Beck 1997), the institution of marriage (Friedman 1990), particular brands of cigarettes (Sobel 1978), and even baseball teams (Sobel 1978;Salisbury 1985). Several authors have attempted to link religious loyalties to another sphere of society, especially the family (Babchuk et al 1967;Crockett et al 1969) and occupation (Lauer 1975), though few have made the connection between religious and political loyalties (though see Nelson 1987;Green and Guth 1993). The purpose of this paper is not to investigate the underlying causes for the disintegration of traditional loyalties (see Wuthnow 1988;Friedman 1990;Sobel 1978 for that), but rather to ask: What, if any, is the relationship between religious and political loyalties?…”

Looking at the Sky: An Ethnographic Study of How Religiosity Influences Business Family Resilience

“…Appreciating how resilience develops in business families—the families that own and influence family firms—is an important issue, especially in faith-led contexts. Indeed, the behaviors may be unique as the business family is composed of family members who are more likely to have homogeneous religious beliefs compared with nonfamily firms with unrelated owners (Arregle et al, 2007; Babchuk et al, 1967). Although identification with a particular religion may affect the role expectations and subsequent behaviors of firm actors (Stryker & Burke, 2000), the controlling family may attach more legitimacy to stakeholders with similar religiosity, making the firm–stakeholders relationship stronger.…”