Postmaterialism in Innovation and Religious Faith

Objectives The postmaterialist paradigm in science is reflected in innovation research. It implies a shift of attention towards the intangible needs of people and the goals of sustainable development, rather than profit and economic growth as the goals of innovation. It reflects Catholic social teaching with its emphasis on social and environmental issues. In the article I explore if the Christian religion is conducive to post-materialist attitudes, and if post-materialism is more prevalent among people more involved in innovative activities in the workplace and in more innovative countries. Material and methods Worlds Value Survey and OECD data were analyzed to explore the relationship between postmaterialism, religious belief, and innovation. The methods used were contingency tables and tests of significance for differences in proportions, and logit models Results The results show that Christian religion is associated with postmaterialist attitudes and work connected with innovation processes. However, postmaterialism also appears to replace religion for atheists, which reflects the human need for spirituality and ethics. Conclusions The results show that there is a social background in more developed countries to the transformation toward a postmaterialist innovation ecosystem, including not only business innovation, but also non-profit innovation. Postmaterialist innovation aims not only for individual material well-being, but also for a higher quality of life for entire societies. It is also in line with Catholic social teaching.