Divine Kingship in the Firm: Reciprocity, Organizational Culture, and Founder Cults

Giuseppe Danese ()
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Giuseppe Danese: University of Pennsylvania

Annals of the Fondazione Luigi Einaudi. An Interdisciplinary Journal of Economics, History and Political Science, 2021, vol. 55, issue 1, 217-236

Abstract: This paper argues that the business firm is a fertile ground for studying how the realms of the ritual and the symbolic affect economic outcomes. In unforeseen contingencies, the contract that the firm draws with its employees is de-facto incomplete. The collaborative nature of organizational tasks, and the long-term nature of many employment contracts, favor the rise of generalized reciprocity between the firm and its workers. This open-ended relationship is guided by both commands (‘hard authority’) and organizational culture (‘subtle authority’). Organizational culture and its standard-bearers often draw on the founder’s values and vision in a fashion that resembles kings’ reliance on metapersons in the political realm. Prominent accounts of entrepreneurship and foundership use a language that closely resembles the rhetoric of divinity and territorial conquest. We conclude with an examination of founder cults in family businesses and startups.

Keywords: Generalized Reciprocity; Organizational Culture; Marshall Sahlins; Founder Cults; Divine Kingship (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: D23 M14 Z13 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:fle:journl:v:55:y:2021:i:1:p:217-236

DOI: 10.26331/1141

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