A Case for Including Religious Organizations in Management Research

Abstract

This article clarifies and extends my 2002 Strategic Management Journal article on the competitive strategies of religious organizations. I respond to some concerns raised by Gomez and Moore and offer arguments supporting management theorists' involvement in research on religious organizations. Management does not offer a comprehensive theory of religious organizations, only a distinct and potentially insightful vantage point. We need to evaluate the appropriateness of management theory assumptions and arguments in this novel context. It is neither appropriate nor desirable that management theory remain unchanged as a result of its encounter with religious organizations. The dialogue between management and religion has the potential to be a generative process changing both management theory and practices within religious organizations.