An Exploratory Study of Corporate Singing and Organizational Culture

Abstract

This study examined corporate singing, specifically when members sing together in religious organizations. Consistent with the literature, we found that organizations whose members participate in corporate singing, versus merely listening to others sing, had more prosocial behavior (i. e., greater voluntarism). In addition, the study examined whether four different types of singing (chanting, unison, harmony, or a combination of types) aligned in predictable ways with the four organizational cultures associated with the Competing Values Framework (bureaucracy, market, clan, and adhocracy, respectively), and found some support for three of the hypothesized relationships. Implications are discussed.