Introduction to the Special Issue "Religion, Spirituality, and Faith in a Secular Business World"

In his book The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism, Weber (1904) identified the Calvinist type of the Protestant ethic as a significant influence in shaping capitalism in Northern Europe. We may observe different transformation processes in geographical areas influenced by other religious traditions, such as Islam, Judaism, Confucianism, and Buddhism. Nevertheless, religion also played a decisive role in forming a modern economic system. In some Western societies, religion is overwhelmingly practised in the private sphere, and religion no longer seems to have any explicit meaning in their enterprises. Nevertheless, religion continues to play a major role in other societies, and even in very secular societies, values, norms, and business convictions are not completely detached from religious beliefs. This is indicated in the modern business world by various developments: the involvement of continental European banks in Islamic banking, the dispute over the publication of religious cartoons in magazines, the debate over the wearing of religious symbols such as the headscarf in the business world, and the integration of religious groups in companies in the context of diversity management discourses.