A quarter of Russian small businesses see meaning in esoteric practices

The use of “esoteric” tools when making business decisions – advice from astrologers, numerologists, tarot readers and magicians – is considered “useful” or “rather useful” by 24% of small and medium-sized businesses in the Russian Federation surveyed by IFORS Research. A third have already had this experience, and the percentage of those who are disappointed in it is not so high – 6% of respondents intend to repeat it within a year, mainly in the hope of a magical increase in profits and sales.

“Kommersant” has at its disposal the brief results of a survey by the research company IFORS Research in 2023 of about 1 thousand owners and managers of small and medium-sized companies in the Russian Federation (the sample is quotated by federal districts and the type of activity of the companies) on an extremely rarely studied topic – the attitude of business to the use of “non-standard” management tools. We are talking about “esoteric” tools that are widespread in Russian society as a whole – astrological forecasts, fortune telling on cards and runes, numerology, conducting “magic rituals” and the services of psychics in the interests of business. Anthropologists’ research in this area usually concerns the population’s personal trust in such practices, including in the field of financial well-being, but assessments of the use of esotericism directly in business practices are presented in the IFORS work for the first time.

In general, it follows from them that for SMEs in the Russian Federation, esotericism is not uncommon, but rather a common practice. 6% of respondents consider them definitely useful “when making decisions at work,” 24% consider them somewhat useful, and 70% consider them somewhat or completely useless. Confidently positive answers were given more often by women (9% of confident “yes” with approximately equal “rather yes” for men and women – a quarter each). This qualitatively coincides with known estimates in the entire population, but the group loyal to such practices surprisingly often talks about their actual use: 32% of them (or 9% of the entire sample of SME owners and managers) used at least one of these “tools” for doing business and business planning, 21% of the group (6% of the sample), that is, every twentieth, intends to use it. This is relatively small in comparison with the very large general audience of business esotericism: the absolute leader of “esoteric technologies” for SMEs is an astrological forecast “for the situation” (29%), then numerology is unexpectedly popular (12%), tarot readers, runologists and other predictors are mentioned 10% of respondents, 7% of respondents have experience using “magic” or “extrasensory perception.”

From the fact that 79% of respondents in the loyal group do not plan to use such practices within a year, it can be assumed that we are talking about their permissibility in the eyes of entrepreneurs in rare (possibly crisis) situations. We are usually talking about resolving issues related to attracting clients, increasing profits or concluding contracts (59% of mentions), in 38% of cases – about improving relationships and atmosphere in the team, 28% are resolving or will resolve issues related to competitors in this way. An unexpectedly small number of respondents—19% of the loyal group in 29% of respondents—need esotericism to strengthen their “personal brand” in business. The same share of the loyal group—19%—uses or intends to use traditionally personal tools—amulets and amulets—in corporate endeavors.

However, women managers are four times more likely to use them. And in general, women in the IFORS survey, among whom loyalty to esotericism as a business practice is not fundamentally higher than among men, demonstrate greater certainty and confidence in the choice of specific “esoteric” practices. Or, what is also possible, men tend to hide their knowledge to a greater extent about practices that are more associated in society with the feminine component of the gender order.

Dmitry Butrin