Workplace spirituality and social enterprise. A review and research agenda

Abstract

Workplace spirituality is a social movement about purposeful work that has both personal and broader societal considerations. Social enterprises are alternative organizational forms that strive to create value by simultaneously pursuing social, economic and environmental goals. Both workplace spirituality and social enterprise discourses have a value creation orientation for self and others, framed as serving and contributing towards the common good. However, only a few studies have addressed the relevance of workplace spirituality for social enterprises. Based on the literature for workplace spirituality and social enterprise, respectively, this paper argues that these phenomena have a common ground: prosocial motives, doing well (value creation) and being well (flourishing). Workplace spirituality can help preserve social enterprises’ integrity, while the social enterprise context can support the incorporation of workplace spirituality to generate positive outcomes. Further studies could explore this potentiality, and the present paper provides some future research suggestions.