Revisiting the protestant ethic and the spirit of capitalism: Understanding the relationship between ethics and enterprise

The last twenty years have been characterised by a significant shift in attitudes towards enterprise, entrepreneurship and small business. However though valued, entrepreneurs and small businesses are under increasing pressure to be mindful of the social and moral implications of their activities. These developments have given the question of business ethics a central place in organisational research. Much of this attention has been directed at the large organisation, despite the fact that the majority of businesses are small firms. A significant amount of the research in the area of business ethics is prescriptive in orientation with an underlying assumption that enterprise and ethics are mutually exclusive, with a key aim being to bring them together. In looking at the question of ethics and enterprise (understood here as small business activity) this paper will argue that a prescriptive approach should be avoided and an alternative will be outlined. With reference to the concept of Lebensfuhrung, translated in Weber's The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism as the "manner of leading one's life", this paper will argue that rather than conceiving of enterprise as an activity which needs an infusion of ethics, enterprise is by its very nature ethical. It is ethical in the sense of advocating a particular way by which one should live one's life or in the case of small business owners, presenting an account of how a small business should be owned, nurtured and developed.