Crafting the Virtuous Corporation Through Spiritual Discernment
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 21464639 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Sharda S Nandram (0000-0003-2090-3840, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam), Puneet K Bindlish (0000-0001-5026-2648, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam), Raysa Geaquinto Rocha (0000-0002-6542-1397, University of Essex, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2026 |
| Volume | 205 |
| Issue | 1 |
| Pages | 71-94 |
| Publication date | 2026-04-01 |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Journal of Business Ethics (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0167-4544 • E-ISSN: 1573-0697 |
| Publisher | Springer Science and Business Media LLC (PUBLISHER) |
| DOI | 10.1007/s10551-025-06075-w |
| OpenAlex | W4413064659 |
| Language | EN |
| References cited | 78 |
This study explores spiritual discernment through the lenses of modern virtue ethics in organizational decision-making by developing a process model grounded in empirical research at Buurtzorg Nederland, a Dutch home care organization. Drawing on MacIntyre’s virtue ethics and Moore’s concept of virtuous corporate character, we identify six principles (serving, attuning, trusting, needing, rethinking, and common sense) and six manifestations (meaningless, meaningful, mindless and mindful organizing activities, substantive rationality, and love for craftsmanship) that facilitate the development of virtuous corporate character. Our findings demonstrate how spiritual discernment enables organizations to balance internal goods (e.g., excellence in practice) with external goods (e.g., reputation and profit). The resulting Process Model of Spiritual Discernment in Organizing Activities contributes to business ethics by empirically grounding Moore’s concept of the virtuous institutional character and Weber’s substantive rationality, providing practical guidance for managers seeking to transcend the means-ends dichotomy
Business ethics · Corporation · Discernment · Economics · Epistemology · Management · Political science · Rationality · Sociology · Virtue · Virtue ethics · Law · Management Theory and Practice · Philosophy · Religion, Spirituality, and Psychology · Workplace Spirituality and Leadership
Organizational Preferences and Their Consequences
Dignity at Work
Barriers to the Advance of Organizational Science
The psychological conditions of meaningfulness, safety and availability and the engagement of the human spirit at work
Beyond Self-Management
Discriminating Between ‘Meaningful Work’ and the ‘Management of Meaning’
Significant Work Is About Self-Realization and Broader Purpose
What is the Eisenhardt Method, really?
Grand Challenges and Inductive Methods
Building Theories from Case Study Research
Organizing and the Process of Sensemaking
The reflective practitioner
The Problem of Autonomy
Organizational Spirituality
Recovering Aristotle’s Practice-Based Ontology
What makes work meaningful? Longitudinal evidence for the importance of autonomy and beneficence for meaningful work
Language differences in qualitative research
Moral mazes
The Informed Will and the Meaning of Life
Exploring the Relationships between Organizational Virtuousness and Performance
The Constant Comparative Method of Qualitative Analysis
Qualitative Quality
Max Weber's Types of Rationality
| Highly cited | No |
|---|