This review discusses the relationship between the Christian faith and business ethics, the academic work that had been done to enhance the understanding of this relationship and the opportunity for future research. The objective is to provide a research base for an empirical study on Malaysian Christians in business, their religiousness and ethical attitudes. / Religion is the most important source of a person's moral norms. Western business ethics is known to have Judeo-Christian roots and started off as an extension of religious ethics (De George 1986). As such the ethics of Christians in business is generally assumed to be consistent with the teachings of the Christian faith. Yet a couple of recent high profile criminal cases involving prominent self-declared Christians in business meant that a possible dichotomy between religious faith and business conduct surfaced. Therefore the question arises: can the relationship between the teachings of Christianity and the business ethics of its adherents be assumed? / This relationship had been of increasing interest since Christians in business are more up front and open about their faith in relation to the running of their businesses. There are ample inspirational writings based on Biblical precepts and principles intended to help Christians in business apply their faith to their business. However, theoretical and empirical research had been lacking. The volume of empirical studies had been very thin and the number of significant findings sparse. The findings were often inconclusive and sometimes contradictory. / Previous research on the relationship between Christianity religiosity and business ethics approached the concept of religion from the following angles: intrinsic and extrinsic religiosity after Allport's religiosity scale, religious intensity and frequency of religious practices, religious beliefs, Christian upbringing, and religious education. The review found the Love of Money Scale developed by Professor Thomas Li-Ping Tang which was founded on Biblical precepts. Since unethical business practices may be motivated by the love of money, the Love of Money Scale may provide new insights into the relationship between religion, love of money and ethical attitudes. / The review shows that important empirical research had been initiated in the study of the relationship between religion and business ethics. Although previous findings had been relatively weak and inconclusive, more recent studies had more positive findings. Further research would be helpful to establish the relationship on a more solid footing. / Thesis (DBA(DoctorateofBusinessAdministration))--University of South Australia, 2006
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:ADTP/286269 |
| Date | January 2006 |
| Creators | Wong, Hong Meng |
| Source Sets | Australiasian Digital Theses Program |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Rights | copyright under review |
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