Faithful Strategies: How Religion Shapes Nonprofit Management

Lapo Filistrucchi () and Jens Prüfer

Working Papers - Economics from Universita' degli Studi di Firenze, Dipartimento di Scienze per l'Economia e l'Impresa

Abstract: This paper studies the strategies employed by Catholic and Protestant nonprofit hospitals in Germany and traces them back to the theological foundations of those religions, which shape managers' values. We find that Catholic nonprofit hospitals follow a strategy of horizontal diversification and maximization of the number of patients treated. By contrast, Protestant hospitals pursue a strategy of horizontal specialization and focus on vertical differentiation, putting in more sophisticated inputs and producing more complex services. These effects increase if the environment of a hospital gets more competitive. The results are consistent with the predictions of our model, which supports the differences between Catholic and Protestant values identified in the literature.

Keywords: religious values; managers' values; nonprofits; religious organizations; Catholicism and Protestantism (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: D64 I11 L21 L31 Z12 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 51 pages
Date: 2014
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http://www.disei.unifi.it/upload/sub/pubblicazioni/repec/pdf/wp01_2014.pdf (application/pdf)

Related works:
Journal Article: Faithful Strategies: How Religion Shapes Nonprofit Management (2019)
Working Paper: Faithful Strategies: How Religion Shapes Nonprofit Management (2013)
Working Paper: Faithful Strategies: How Religion Shapes Nonprofit Management (2013)
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