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

Abstract

Despite the growing interest in resilience in the family business context, little attention has been devoted to understanding the influence of religion on the way business families respond to adverse environments. We use a unique ethnography of a Middle Eastern faith-led family firm to investigate how religiosity influences the way the business family resists and rebounds from environmental shocks. We identify religious role expectations as a pivotal driver of particularistic responses in family firms to advance a religious-based foundation for business family resilience.