The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism and Healthcare Entrepreneurship in Mission Hospitals in Ghana

Abstract

The current global healthcare market requires hospitals to fundamentally and constantly transform the way they function and identify new foundations or avenues to gain or consolidate any competitive advantage. We investigated whether hospitals managed by Protestants (Presbyterian or Calvinist) in Ghana exhibit entrepreneurial capabilities and competencies than hospitals managed by Catholics and Muslims due to the perceived inherent spirit of capitalism in Protestantism (Calvinism). Seventy five religious (mission) health facilities located across Ghana were evaluated for their entrepreneurial orientation with respect to autonomy, innovativeness, risk taking and competitive aggressiveness. The findings established that hospitals in Ghana which are managed by Protestant Churches (Presbyterian) do not differ in the adoption, application and use of entrepreneurial values and practices from those managed by Catholics and Ahmadiyya Muslims. The research contributes to the existing literature that puts the generalizability of Max Weber’s Protestant Ethic notion into dispute. Its novelty lies in the extension of Max Weber’s Protestant Ethic theory to analysing entrepreneurial culture in managing healthcare institutions in a “religious centric” Sub-Saharan African society”