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Spirituality and Corporate Philanthropy in Indian Family Firms: An Exploratory Study

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Abstract

Family firm philanthropy (FFP) is the donation of resources to support societal betterment in ways meaningful for the controlling family. Family business literature suggests that socioemotional goals of achieving family prominence, harmony, and continuity drive FFP. However, these drivers fail to explain spiritually motivated philanthropic behaviors like anonymous giving by business families. 14 case studies of Indian Hindu business families with a combined FFP exceeding 2 billion INR in 2016–17 reveal spirituality or the moral dimension as an additional important driver of corporate behaviors like FFP. Two fundamental spiritual beliefs of dharma (duty towards society) and karma (right to action without expectation of rewards) instill a duty-bound giving culture in Hindus. However, the strength of each belief varies in controlling families revealing four configurations of philanthropists labeled as Devout, Committed, Devoid, and Coerced in this study. Devouts, the biggest givers, are spiritually motivated, controlled by at least third-generation family members with executive power and professional support. Committed philanthropists are motivated by societal development rather than spirituality. While devoids hold spiritual beliefs, they neglect to devote appropriate resources or develop professional structures to support FFP. Coerced, the smallest givers, focus on business growth, lack family champions or supporting professional structures, and face turbulent family or business domains.

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Notes

  1. The complete list of keywords reflective of the influence of Spirituality on family firm philanthropy with respective frequency counts is provided in supplementary material to the article.

  2. For parsimony, shortened company names are used in this article. Please see Table 1 for full names of the companies and controlling families.

  3. Accessed from http://www.forbesindia.com/article/philanthropy-awards-2013/the-bajaj-family-has-a-tradition-of-giving/36635/1 (September 17, 2018).

  4. The Economic Times, accessed from - https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/company/corporate-trends/heres-how-fourth-generation-of-tvs-group-ensuring-it-stays-relevant-and-together/articleshow/61107005.cms on September 16, 2018.

  5. ,“Finolex family spat, board meet raise legal quandary” The Economic Times, May 4, 2018.

  6. “Finolex family dispute escalates amid several counter-allegations,” The Economic Times, April 19, 2019.

  7. “Dalmia Cement plans to split biz into four,” The Economic Times, March 18, 2010.

  8. “Dalmia Bharat group claims MF units of subsidiaries illegally transferred,” India Infoline News, Feb. 28, 2019.

  9. “Dalmia Group’s Public Hearing to Get Land Acquisition Nod in Sundargarh a ‘Hoax,’” Newsclick.in, Oct. 8, 2018.

  10. “From penny stock to investors' delight: Symphony’s turnaround story,” Business Standard, November 3, 2015.

  11. “Symphony: Beating the heat with its air coolers,” Forbes India, July 25, 2017.

  12. “Lupin founder Desh Bandhu Gupta dies at 79,” Livemint, June 26, 2017.

  13. The Guardian, “Philanthropists can’t eradicate global poverty, but we can make a start,” May 12, 2016.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Indian School of Business, Hyderabad, Telangana, India

    Navneet Bhatnagar, Pramodita Sharma & Kavil Ramachandran

  2. University of Vermont, Burlington, USA

    Pramodita Sharma

  3. Northwestern University, Evanston, USA

    Pramodita Sharma

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  1. Navneet Bhatnagar
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  2. Pramodita Sharma
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  3. Kavil Ramachandran
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Correspondence to Navneet Bhatnagar.

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Bhatnagar, N., Sharma, P. & Ramachandran, K. Spirituality and Corporate Philanthropy in Indian Family Firms: An Exploratory Study. J Bus Ethics 163, 715–728 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10551-019-04394-3

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