Institutional entrepreneurship in a religious order: The 1741 Constituciones of the Hospitaller Order of Saint John of God

Abstract

An extensive branch of accounting literature studies accounting and religion. The variety of religious organizations studied, theoretical approaches, and roles assigned to accounting are as extensive as the range of the values that are rooted in religious organizations. However, the literature has not yet described the role of the individual in the spread of accounting and accountability into a religious organization and what leads the individual to advocate such change. The concept of institutional entrepreneurship can shed light on this topic. To this end, this work studies the change in the Constituciones (rules) of the Hospitaller Order of Saint John of God in eighteenth-century Spain. Father Ortega, as General of the Order, played a key role supporting the implementation of accounting and accountability techniques.

Accounting for and accounts of death: Past, present and future possibilities

“…The topics covered in this category were broad and varied in methodology, timeframe studied, context, and unit of analysis. Articles ranged from a study of the impact of donor death on Buddhist temple income and expenditure reports in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries (Sankoji, 2020) to the theoretical framing of the entrepreneurial aspects of an eighteenth century Spanish religious order (see Sanchez-Matamoros and Fenech, 2019). This group accepted death as unproblematic and objective, a mere statement of fact.…”

Revisiting the boundaries of the sacred

“…We have based our study on the rules of brotherhoods as primary source. Previous works on accounting in religious organisations have studied also their regulations; see, for example, Irvine (2002) on the Salvation Army, Quattrone (2004) on the Society of Jesus, Maté et al (2004) on the Benedictine monks of the Monastery of Silos (Spain), or Baños and Carrasco (2019). Rules of brotherhoods are the equivalent to the constitutions of a religious order, for they include the compulsory procedures that confreres impose on themselves, and their fulfilment is considered a sacred obligation.…”

“…Given these features, brotherhoods seem appropriate for the aim of this study, for they have a sacred base and sacred objectives. They are formed by lay people who develop their daily lives in the profane sphere, in contrast with other religious organisations, such as parishes, bishoprics or monastic orders whose members are consecrated people (Quattrone, 2004;Maté et al, 2004;Baños and Funnell, 2015;Moggi et al, 2016;Baños and Carrasco, 2019). Considering how the context influences the role of accounting in religious organisations (Quattrone, 2004;Álvarez-Dardet et al, 2006;Baños and Funnell, 2015), we focus on the final years of the 16 th century because, in Spain, this period was characterised by the emergence of a growing interest in accounting procedures in the private and public sectors, with the edition of manuals and the promulgation of several regulations on the matter (Hernández, 1992).…”

Accounting History and the Enlightenment – an introduction

“…The first of these is co-authored by Baños Sánchez-Matamoros and Carrasco Fenech (2019) and investigates the role of Enlightenment thought in reducing the power of religious dogma in eighteenth-century Spain. An extensive branch of accounting literature has studied accounting and religion.…”