Religious founders and employee welfare

Abstract

This study explores the role of religious founders in promoting employee welfare in family firms. We propose that a founder's religious beliefs can shape the cognitive framework for ethical issues and then influence the firm's employee welfare practices. Empirical tests based on survey data reveal that firms with religious founders are more likely to offer employee welfare than firms without religious founders. This positive relationship is weakened when the firm founder has a political identity. Further analysis shows that the impact of the founder's religious beliefs on employee welfare is greater for firms located in areas with a stronger religious atmosphere, indicating that religion mainly works through the institutional-forcing channel rather than the faith-driving channel. Overall, our findings provide inspiration for the promotion of employee welfare from an ethical light.