Islamic family business : the constitutive role of religion on business

Religion has been one of the long-standing social phenomena that significantly influences societies. As one of the most dominant form of business organisations, family firms, especially operating in homogenous contexts where religion permeates the society, are more likely to subject to the influence of religion. However, so far, little is known about the mechanisms by which religion constitutes business activities in such family firms. Based on qualitative data collected through 36 in-depth interviews and observational data from a four-month long field trip in two Anatolian-based family firms in Turkey, our study investigates how religion informs and shapes business activities in such family firms. Our findings indicate that religion provides a dominant meaning system that plays a key role in constituting business activities. We identify three mechanisms that explain the constitutive role of religion on business activities in family firms: 1) adopting religious practices and their associated meanings as business practices, 2) attributing business outcomes to adherence to religious values, 3) avoiding the evil eye. These mechanisms highlight how religion becomes a source of well-understood business practices, how religion defines the nature of rationality that guides business activities, and how religious taboos can delimit the range of potential business activities, respectively.