Transfer and persistence of spiritual values as institutional logics in post-founding social ventures

Abstract

It is well understood that personal values can profoundly influence the purpose and direction of a new venture. This is even more so when the spiritual values of the founder are involved. Even though spirituality empowers oneself with energy, passion, direction, and meaning in both personal and occupational life, the process through which spiritual values are transferred from the founder to the organisation and how they persist within the venture remains unclear. This leads to the research question of the study: How do spiritual values of the founder transfer and persist within the venture to become an institutional logic? Interpretivism serves as the paradigm for my study. The research follows a qualitative approach, employing case studies for an in-depth exploration of the data. A sample of sixty participants, comprising founders and employees, from Sri Lankan MSM social enterprises, was interviewed. The interview data were analysed using thematic analysis. Firstly, the research reveals that recognising the founder’s spiritual values begins with comprising founders and employees from the founder embodying selfless qualities such as gratitude, generosity, empathy, detachment, principled conduct, and a sense of justice through self-aware thoughts and actions. This study focuses on an in-depth understanding of how the spiritual values of the founder have been transferred into the ventures and how they persist. Therefore, secondly, the study uncovers that the transferring of the founder’s spiritual values occurs through three processes: Practising, fostering and nurturing. The transfer of spiritual values involves routine actions that align thoughts and behaviours with the inner well-being of both oneself and others. This process is nurtured through intentional, compassionate understanding and encouragement, fostering inner calmness to bring comfort to others. Thirdly, my study signifies three processes of persistence of spiritual values within the venture: Contemplating, continuous engagement and inculcating. The persistence of spiritual values as institutional logics begins with self-reflection, grounded in self-awareness and consistent, often unintentional interactions that promote a commitment-driven life in service to others. The discussion and conclusion evaluate and reflect, respectively, on the journey of institutional logic. The transition from spiritual values to spiritual institutional logic is characterised by alignment, sense-making, and re-coupling. Alignment involves both inner resonance and collective resonance, extending beyond collective transcendence to encompass global transcendence. Sense-making indicates that founders and employees work collectively to ensure a meaningful purpose oriented toward the well-being of others, while also drawing on the inner, self-developed humanistic nature of spiritual values. In the process of recoupling, a complementary, yet evolving dimension of spiritual institutional logic emerges through the co-extraction and recombination of multiple elements derived from compatible spiritual values, resulting in a spiritual form of institutional logic. Finally, this study extends the moral and intellectual stance of institutional logic to include the spiritual dimension. The transition from spiritual values to institutional logics is observed through the characteristics and inherent nature of those values. Secondly, the value transfer process explored in this study offers a theoretical bridge between spirituality and management theory. It contributes to the value transmission process by integrating self-awareness and empathy into practice. Thirdly, this study provides evidence for the persistence of spiritual values within the domains of spirituality and institutional logic by highlighting the interplay between core and peripheral elements of spiritual institutional logics.