Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Religion and Entrepreneurship

  • Living reference work entry
  • First Online:
Handbook of Labor, Human Resources and Population Economics

  • 102 Accesses

Abstract

The idea that religious values may impact on economic behavior and activity can be traced at least as far back as the work of Max Weber. However, there has been a recent advance of interest in religion and entrepreneurship as an important facet of this wider issue. At a global level religion remains an important sociocultural force. This has led in turn to the development of a range of ideas about the potential linkage between religious affiliation, the acquisition of religious beliefs and values, and their impact on entrepreneurial intentions, choices, and performance. Researchers have evaluated and investigated these ideas along various methodological paths. Within the entrepreneurship field, qualitative methods have been used extensively. However, econometric studies using large-scale microdata are more limited in number, and an assessment of findings to date is mixed and not firmly conclusive. The role of religion is also explored through the lens of institutional theory, producing ideas about the role of religious organizations as an important source of social and networking capital. This leads to empirical predictions which might more appropriately be assessed with multilevel analysis and points to important ways in which the current literature might be developed and extended. Finally, the role of religion as a source of entrepreneurial opportunity is discussed, both for individual religiously motivated entrepreneurs and for religious organizations themselves behaving in an entrepreneurial manner, consistent with established ideas about rational choice and religion.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Log in via an institution

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Altinay L (2008) The relationship between and entrepreneur’s culture and the entrepreneurial behaviour of the firm. J Small Bus Ent Dev 15(1):111–129.

    Google Scholar 

  • Anderson AR, Drakopoulou-Dodd SL, Scott MG (2000) Religion as an environmental influence on enterprise culture: the case of Britain in the 1980s. Int J Entrepreneurial Behav Res 6(1):5–20

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Askari H, Iqbal Z, Mirakhor A (2015) Introduction to Islamic Economics: theory and application. John Wiley and Sons, Chichester

    Google Scholar 

  • Attanasi K, Yong A (2012) Pentecostalism and prosperity. Palgrave Macmillan, New York

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Audretsch DB, Bönte A, Tamvada JP (2013) Religion, social class, and entrepreneurial choice. J Bus Ventur 28(6):774–789

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Austin TS (2019) Social entrepreneurship among Protestant American congregations: the role, theology, motivations and experiences of lay and clergy leaders, PhD Thesis, Indiana University

    Google Scholar 

  • Balog AM, Baker LT, Walker AG (2014) Religiosity and spirituality in entrepreneurship: a review and research agenda. J Manage Spiritual Religion 11(2):159–186

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Barro RJ, McCleary RM (2005) Which countries have state religions? Q J Econ 120(4):1331–1370

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Basu A, Altinay E (2002) The interaction between culture and entrepreneurship in London’s immigrant businesses. Int Small Bus J 20(4):371–394

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Becker SO, Woessmann L (2009) Was Weber wrong? A human capital theory of Protestant economic history. Q J Econ 124(2):531–596

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Beckford JA (2003) Social theory and religion. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Block J, Fisch C, Rehan F (2020) Religion and entrepreneurship: a map of the field and a bibliometric analysis. Management Review Quarterly 70:591–627

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Boppart T, Falkinger J, Grossmann V (2014) Protestantism and education: reading (the bible) and other skills. Econ Inq 52(2):874–895

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bosma N, Hill S, Ionescu-Somers A, Kelley D, Guerrero M, Schott T (2021) Global entrepreneurship monitor 2020/2021 global report. Global Entrepreneurship Research Association, London

    Google Scholar 

  • Brüderl J, Preisendörfer P (1998) Network support and the success of newly founded businesses. Small Bus Econ 10(3):213–225

    Google Scholar 

  • Bruton GD, Ahlstrom D, Li H-L (2010) Institutional theory and entrepreneurship: where are we now and where do we need to move in the future. Entrep Theory Pract 34(3):421–440

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Cochrane P (2018) The economics of the Hajj. ACCA Global. https://www.accaglobal.com/an/en/member/member/accounting-business/2018/07/insights/economics-hajj.html. Accessed 21 Feb 2022

  • Dana L-P (2010) Entrepreneurship and religion. Edward Elgar Publishing, Cheltenham

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Dana L-P, Dana TE (2007) Collective entrepreneurship in a Mennonite community in Paraguay. Lat Am Bus Rev 8(4):82–96

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Davidson P, Honig B (2003) The role of social and human capital among nascent entrepreneurs. J Bus Ventur 18(3):301–331

    Google Scholar 

  • Davie G (2013) The sociology of religion, 2nd edn. Sage, London

    Google Scholar 

  • DiMaggio PJ, Powell WW (eds) (1991) The new institutionalism in organizational analysis. University of Chicago Press, Chicago

    Google Scholar 

  • Dobbelaere K (1981) Secularization: a multidimensional concept. Curr Sociol 20(2):1–216

    Google Scholar 

  • Dodd SD, Gotsis G (2007) The interrelationships between entrepreneurship and religion. Entrepreneurship Innov 8(2):93–104

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Dodd SD, Seaman P (1998) Religion and enterprise: an introductory exploration. Entrep Theory Pract 23(1):71–87

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Dougherty KD, Griebel J, Neubert MJ, Park JZ (2013) A religious profile of American entrepreneurs. J Sci Study Relig 52(2):401–409

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Dougherty KD, Neubert MJ, Park JZ (2019) Prosperity beliefs and value orientations: fuelling or suppressing entrepreneurial activity. J Sci Study Relig 58(2):475–493

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Elfring T, Hulsink W (2003) Networks in entrepreneurship: the case of high technology firms. Small Bus Econ 21(4):409–422

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Elfring T, Klyver K, Van Burg A (2021) Entrepreneurship as networking: mechanisms, dynamics, practices, and strategies. Oxford University Press, Oxford

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • El-Gamal MA (2011) Islamic finance: law, Economics and practice. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge

    Google Scholar 

  • Fox J (2008) A world survey of religion and the state. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press

    Google Scholar 

  • Galbraith CS, Galbraith DM (2007) An empirical note on entrepreneurial activity, intrinsic religiosity and economic growth. J Enterprising Commun 1(2):188–201

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Granovetter MS (1973) The strength of weak ties. Am J Sociol 78(6):1360–1380

    Google Scholar 

  • Granovetter MS (1985) Economic action and social structure: The problem of embeddedness. Am J Sociol 91(3):481–510

    Google Scholar 

  • Greve A, Salaff JW (2003) Social networks and entrepreneurship. Entrep Theory Pract 28(1):1–22

    Google Scholar 

  • Grim BJ, Finke R (2006) International religion indexes: government regulation, government favoritism and social regulation of religion. Interdiscip J Res Religion, 2 (Baylor University, TX)

    Google Scholar 

  • Grim BJ, Grim ME (2016) The socio-economic contribution of religion to Anerican society: an empirical analysis. Interdiscip J Res Religion, 12 (Baylor University, TX)

    Google Scholar 

  • Guiso L, Sapienza P, Zingales L (2006a) People’s opium? Religion and economic attitudes. J Monet Econ 50(1):225–282

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Guiso L, Sapienza P, Zingales L (2006b) Does culture affect economic outcomes? J Econ Perspect 20(2):23–48

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gümüsay AA (2015) Entrepreneurship from an Islamic perspective. J Bus Ethics 130:199–208

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gutiérrez A (1988) A theology of liberation: history, politics and salvation. Orbis Books, Maryknoll

    Google Scholar 

  • Haerpfer C, Inglehart R, Moreno A, Welzel C, Kizilova K, Diez-Medrano J, Lagos M, Norris P, Ponarin E, Puranen B et al (eds) (2020) World values survey: round seven - country-pooled Datafile. JD Systems Institute & WVSA Secretariat, Madrid/Vienna. https://doi.org/10.14281/18241.13

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Hay D (1989) Economics today: A Christian critique. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, Chapter 1 reprinted as Christianity and economics: Theological ethics. In (ed.) Oslington P (2003) Economics and religion. Cheltenham: Edward Elgart Publishing, pp 89–135

    Google Scholar 

  • Hayton JC, George G, Zahra SA (2002) National culture and entrepreneurship: a review of behavioural research. Entrep Theory Pract 26(4):33–53

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Henley A (2017) Does religion influence entrepreneurial behaviour? Int Small Bus J 35(5):597–617

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hill NJ, Perkins S, White J (2015) The influence of religion on becoming an entrepreneur in the United States. Acad Entrepreneurship J 21(2):15–23

    Google Scholar 

  • Hofstede G (2001) Culture’s Consequences, 2nd edn. Sage, Beverly Hills

    Google Scholar 

  • Hoogendoorn B, Reitveld C, van Stel A (2016) Belonging, believing, bonding, and behaving: the relationship between religion and business ownership at the country level. J Evol Econ 26(3):519–550

    Google Scholar 

  • Jack S (2005) The role, use and activation of strong and weak ties: A qualitative analysis. J Manage Stud 42(6):1233–1259

    Google Scholar 

  • Iannaccone LR (1988) A formal model of church and sect. Am J Sociol 94(S1):241–268

    Google Scholar 

  • Iannaccone LR (1998) Introduction to the economics of religion. J Econ Lit 36(3):1465–1496

    Google Scholar 

  • Jiang F, Jiang Z, Kim KA, Zhang M (2015) Family-firm risk-taking: does religion matter? J Corp Finan 33:260–278

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Katz J (1992) A psychological cognitive model of employment status choice. Entrep Theory Pract 17(1):29–37

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kidwell J, Doherty S (2015) Theology and Economics: A Christian vision of the common good. Palgrave Macmillan, Basingstoke

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Krueger NF, Reilly MD, Carsrud AL (2000) Competing models of entrepreneurial intentions. J Bus Ventur 15(5–6):411–432

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kunda Z (1990) The case for motivated reasoning. Psychol Bull 108(3):480–498

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lelkes O (2006) Tasting freedom: happiness, religion and economic transition. J Econ Behav Organ 59(2):173–194

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Licht AN, Siegel JI (2006) The social dimensions of entrepreneurship. In: Casson M, Yeung B (eds) Oxford handbook of entrepreneurship. Oxford University Press, Oxford, pp 511–539

    Google Scholar 

  • Long DS (2000) Divine economy: theology and the market. Routledge, London

    Google Scholar 

  • Lui Z, Xu Z, Zhou Z, Li Y (2019) Buddhist entrepreneurs and new venture performance: the mediating role of risk-taking. Small Bus Econ 52:713–727

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Martin D (2002) Pentecostalism: the world their parish. Blackwell, Oxford

    Google Scholar 

  • McCleary RM, Barro RJ (2006) Religion and economy. J Econ Perspect 20(2):49–72

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • McCleary RM, Barro RJ (2019) The wealth of religions: the political economy of believing and belonging. Princeton University Press, Princeton

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • McCullough ME, Willoughby BLB (2009) Religion, self-regulation, and self-control: associations, explanations, and implications. Psychol Bull 135(1):69–93. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0014213

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Millar KD (2002) Competitive strategies of religious organizations. Strateg Manag J 23(5):435–456

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Minns C, Rizov M (2005) The spirit of capitalism? Ethnicity, religion and self-employment in early 20th century Canada. Explor Econ Hist 42(2):259–281

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • North DC (1990) Institutions, institutional change and economic performance. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Novak M (1982) The Spirit of democratic capitalism. Madison Books, Lanham

    Google Scholar 

  • Nunziata L, Rocco L (2011) The implications of cultural background on labour market choices: the case of religion and entrepreneurship. Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=1965131 or https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.1965131

  • Nwankwo S, Gbadamosi A, Ojo S (2012) Religion, spirituality and entrepreneurship: the church as entrepreneurial space among British Africans. Soc Bus Rev 7(2):149–167

    Google Scholar 

  • O’Brien D, Shannon TA (2017) Catholic social thought: encyclicals and documents from pope Leo XIII to pope Francis, 3rd edn. Orbis Books, New York

    Google Scholar 

  • Parboteeah KP, Walter SG, Block JH (2015) When does Christian religion matter for entrepreneurial activity? The contingent effect of a country’s investment in knowledge. J Bus Ethics 130:447–465

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Parker S (2018) The Economics of entrepreneurship, 2nd edn. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Pearce JA, Fritz DA, Davis PS (2010) Entrepreneurial orientation and the performance of religious congregations as predicted by rational choice theory. Entrep Theory Pract 34(1):219–248

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Preston RH (1979) Religion and the persistence of capitalism. SCM Press, London

    Google Scholar 

  • Pryor FL (1990) A Buddhist economic system – in principle. Am J Econ Sociol 49(3):339–349

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Rietveld CA, Hoogendoorn B (2021) The mediating role of values in the relationship between religion and entrepreneurship. Small Business Economics, (online 5 April 2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11187-021-00454-z

  • Schumacher EF (1973) Small is beautiful: a study of economics as if people mattered. Harper and Row, New York

    Google Scholar 

  • Schumpeter JA (1942) Capitalism, socialism and democracy. Harper and Row, New York

    Google Scholar 

  • Scott WR (2013) Institutions and organizations, 4th edn. Sage Publications, Thousand Oaks

    Google Scholar 

  • Smith BR, McMullen JS, Cardon MS (2021) Toward a theological turn in entrepreneurship: how religion could enable transformative research in our field. J Bus Ventur 36(5):106139. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jbusvent.2021.106139

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Stam W, Arzlanian S, Elfring T (2014) Social capital of entrepreneurs and small firm performance: A meta-analysis of contextual and methodological moderators. J Bus Ventur 29(1):152–173

    Google Scholar 

  • Stark R, Iannaccone LR (1994) A supply-side reinterpretation of the “secularization” of Europe. J Sci Study Relig 33(3):230–252

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Tamari M (1987) With all your possessions: Jewish ethics and economic life. The Free Press/Macmillan, New York

    Google Scholar 

  • Tawney RH (1926 (1937 edition)) Religion and the Rise of Capitalism. Harmondsworth: Pelican Books

    Google Scholar 

  • Urbano D, Aparico S, Audretsch D (2019) Twenty-five years of research on institutions, entrepreneurship, and economic growth: what has been learned? Small Bus Econ 53(1):21–49

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Uzzi B (1997) Social structure and competition in interfirm networks: the paradox of embeddedness. Admin Sci Q 42(1):35–67

    Google Scholar 

  • Valliere D (2008) Exploring Buddhist influence on the entrepreneurial decision. Int J Entrepreneurial Behav Res 14(3):172–191

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Weber M (1905[1930]) The Protestant ethic and the Spirit of capitalism. London: Allen and Unwin (originally published in German in Archiv für Sozialwissenschaft und Sozialpolitik)

    Google Scholar 

  • Wieteke C, Schippers J (eds) (2019) Self-employment as precarious work: A European perspective. Edward Elgar Publishing, Cheltenham

    Google Scholar 

  • Wilson R (1997) Economics, ethics and religion: Jewish, Christian and Muslim economic thought. Palgrave, Basingstoke

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Wulandari R, Zoubir YH (2021) Catholic priests in the archdiocese of Jakarta: evidence of entrepreneurial leadership. Glob Bus Organ Excell 40(1):6–20

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Zelenka Y, Avnimelech G, Sharabi E (2014) Religious institutions and entrepreneurship. Small Bus Econ 42(4):747–767

    Google Scholar 

  • Zhang Y, Liu C (2021) Religion and unproductive entrepreneurship: the role of risk aversion. Eur J Polit Econ 70:102038. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ejpoleco.2021.102038

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Cardiff Business School, Cardiff University, Cardiff, UK

    Andrew Henley

  2. IZA Institute of Labor Economics, Bonn, Germany

    Andrew Henley

Authors
  1. Andrew Henley
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Andrew Henley .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. UNU-MERIT & Princeton University, Maastricht, The Netherlands

    Klaus F. Zimmermann

Section Editor information

  1. Leibniz Institute for East and Southeast European Studies (IOS), Regensburg, Germany

    Olga Popova

  2. CERGE-EI, a joint workplace of Charles University and the Czech Academy of Sciences, Prague, Czech Republic

    Olga Popova

  3. Graduate School of Economics and Management, Ural Federal University, Yekaterinburg, Russian Federation

    Olga Popova

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2022 Springer Nature Switzerland AG

About this entry

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this entry

Henley, A. (2022). Religion and Entrepreneurship. In: Zimmermann, K.F. (eds) Handbook of Labor, Human Resources and Population Economics. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-57365-6_373-1

Download citation

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-57365-6_373-1

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-319-57365-6

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-319-57365-6

  • eBook Packages: Springer Reference Economics and FinanceReference Module Humanities and Social SciencesReference Module Business, Economics and Social Sciences

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Search

Navigation