Publication: Spirituality and ethical treatment of customers and employees by devout Thai women small business owners
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Issued Date
2021-10-01
Resource Type
ISSN
26946424
26946416
26946416
Other identifier(s)
2-s2.0-85112033411
Rights
Mahidol University
Rights Holder(s)
SCOPUS
Bibliographic Citation
Business Ethics, Environment and Responsibility. Vol.30, No.4 (2021), 818-831
Suggested Citation
Jitnisa Roenjun, Mark Speece, Leela Tiangsoongnern Spirituality and ethical treatment of customers and employees by devout Thai women small business owners. Business Ethics, Environment and Responsibility. Vol.30, No.4 (2021), 818-831. doi:10.1111/beer.12375 Retrieved from: https://repository.li.mahidol.ac.th/handle/123456789/75826
Research Projects
Organizational Units
Authors
Journal Issue
Thesis
Title
Spirituality and ethical treatment of customers and employees by devout Thai women small business owners
Author(s)
Abstract
The role of spirituality in management is of growing interest, not least because it is closely related to business ethics, and, thus, how businesses treat customers and employees. The topic, however, still needs some conceptual development, as well as empirical research, especially outside Western, Christian contexts. This qualitative research examines spirituality among women small business owners in Thailand. These women follow Kuan Im bodhisattva, a Buddhist role model teaching compassion and morality. In Jackson's terminology, this is an example of an Eastern, practice-oriented approach to ethics rather than (in his view) the somewhat theoretical wisdom-oriented approach common in the West. The nature of their spirituality and their treatment of customers and employees maps strongly to a servant leadership style. Servant leadership has occasionally been proposed as the style most closely associated with spirituality. In this context, it seems to be thoroughly intertwined, and highly concerned with ethical treatment of others.