1 Introduction
2 Literature and theoretical background
2.1 Religion and entrepreneurship
Authors (year) | Measures for religion | Measures for entrepreneurship | Theoretical framework | Sample (dataset) | Summary of results |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Carroll and Mosakowski (1987) | Self-identification as being Protestant, Catholic, or other | Self-employment in manufacturing, commerce, and services | Weber thesis | 2172 West German individuals (West-German Life History Study, 1979–1984) | Protestants are more likely than others to move into self-employment (including family business) |
Butler and Herring (1991) | Self-identification as being Jewish, Catholic, or other | Self-employment | Middleman theory; ethnic enclave theory | 7542 American individuals aged 18 and above (General Social Surveys, USA, 1983–1987) | Jews and non-Catholics are more likely than others to be self-employed |
Dodd and Seaman (1999) | (1) Belonging to any particular religion, (2) attendance of religious services and meetings, (3) the difference religion makes to one’s life, and (4) adherence (i.e., combination of 1 and 3) | Self-employment, (successful) business ownership (growth in profits and workforce) | None | 684 economically active British individuals (British Household Panel Study, 1991/1992) | No relationship between religion and self-employment or being a (successful) business owner |
Minns and Rivov (2005) | Self-identification as belonging to a Catholic church, a Protestant church, or a Protestant sect (e.g., Evangelical, Pentecostal, or European Free Church) | Self-employment | Weber thesis | 19,904 economically active Canadian males aged 16–65 (Canadian Census, 1901) | Compared to Protestants, Jews are more likely and Catholics less likely to be self-employed; no evidence for those belonging to Protestant sects |
Nair and Pandey (2006) | Belonging to Hindu or non-Hindu minority religion | Starting a business and starting a business that is still running | None | 80 individuals who started a business in the manufacturing industry in India (Industralisation in Kerela, 2002) | No relationship between religious affiliation and starting a business or succeeding |
Carswell and Rolland (2007) | Self-identification as being Christian, Muslim, Hindu, Jewish, Buddhist, or other | Nascent or young business owner | None | 2000 randomly selected New Zealanders aged 18–65 (Bartercard New Zealand Global Entrepreneurship Monitor, 2002) | Non-Christians are more likely to be business owners |
De Noble et al. (2007) | Intrinsic religious orientation and extrinsic religious orientation | Opinions and personal attitudes about entrepreneurship and self-employment | Weber thesis | Survey of 141 American senior-level business students interested in an entrepreneurial career | Intrinsic religiosity is positively related to perceptions about and actual self-employment; extrinsic religiosity is negatively related to actual self-employment |
Nunziata and Rocco (2011) | Self-identification as belonging to a Catholic church or Protestant church or being non-religious; intensity of adhesion to religion | Self-employment with and without employees | Weber thesis | 78,889 economically active individuals (ESS, 2002–2008) | Protestants are more likely than Catholics to be self-employed; religious denominations have a significant impact on individual choices when the adhesion to religion is strong |
Audretsch et al. (2013) | Self-identification as belonging to Hinduism, Islam, Christianity, Sikhism, Jainism, or Buddhism | Self-employment | Institutional theory (norms and cognition); social dominance theory | 82,436 economically active Indian individuals aged 15–70 (National Sample Survey Organization of India, 2004) | Hinduism and Buddhism restrict self-employment, Islam and Jainism encourage self-employment activities, and Christianity not significantly associated with self-employment |
Dougherty et al. (2013) | Self-identification as evangelical Protestant, mainline Protestant, black Protestant, Catholic, other, or no religion; personal beliefs about God; religious service attendance and prayer; whether a respondent’s place of worship encourages one to start a business and to make a profit in business | Ever started or currently trying to start a new business | None | 1714 random American individuals aged over 18 (Baylor Religion Survey, 2010) | No relationship between religious affiliation, believing in God, or attending religious services and having ever started or currently starting a business; however, those having started or currently starting a business see God as more personal, pray more frequently, and are more likely to attend a place of worship that encourages business activity |
Hill, Perkins, White (2015) | Self-identification as being Christian or non-Christian; having strong religious beliefs | Self-employment; Preference for self-employment | None | 57,061 American individuals aged 18 and above (General Social Science Survey, USA) | Non-Christians are more likely to be self-employed than Christians; Christians are more likely to prefer self-employment than non-Christians; both conclusions hold when the strength of religiosity is taken into account |
Wyrwich (2018) | Self-identification as Protestant | Planning to become self-employed and entry into self-employment | Weber thesis | Approximately 2900 East German individuals (German Socioeconomic Panel, 1989–1990) | Being a Protestant has a positive influence on both planning to become self-employed and actual entry into self-employment |
Dougherty et al. (2019) | Prosperity gospel beliefs scale | Ever started a business or organization | Values theory (Schwartz) | 1022 American full-time employed individuals aged 18 and above (probability-based web panel) | No direct impact of prosperity beliefs on entrepreneurial attitudes or action. Prosperity beliefs moderate the impact of values on the likelihood of starting a business |
2.2 Values and the relationship between religion and entrepreneurship
2.3 The theory of basic human values
Value group | Associationwith religion | Association with entrepreneurship | Basic human value | Motivational goal |
---|---|---|---|---|
Bipolar dimension openness to change vs. conservation | ||||
Openness to change | – | + | Stimulation | Excitement, novelty, and challenge in life |
Self-direction | Independent thought and action-choosing, creating, and exploring | |||
Hedonisma | Pleasure and sensuous gratification for oneself | |||
Conservation | + | – | Tradition | Respect, commitment, and acceptance of the customs and ideas that traditional culture or religion provides to the self |
Conformity | Restraint of actions, inclinations, and impulses likely to upset or harm others and violate social expectations or norms | |||
Security | Safety, harmony, and stability of society, of relationships, and of the self | |||
Bipolar dimension self-enhancement vs. self-transcendence | ||||
Self-enhancement | – | + | Power | Social status and prestige, control or dominance over people and resources |
Achievement | Personal success through demonstrating competence according to social standards | |||
Self-transcendence | + | – | Universalism | Understanding, appreciation, tolerance, and protection for the welfare of all people and for nature |
Benevolence | Preservation and enhancement of the welfare of people with whom one is in frequent personal contact |
2.4 Synthesis and derivation of expectations
3 Data and methods
3.1 Sample
3.2 Measures
3.2.1 Entrepreneurship
3.2.2 Belonging to a (particular) religion
3.2.3 Values
3.2.4 Methodology
4 Results
4.1 Descriptive statistics
Full sample (N = 150,498) | Entrepreneurs (N = 20,377) | Wage workers (N = 130,121) | p value | |
---|---|---|---|---|
Religion | ||||
Belonging to a religion (0/1) | 0.55 (0.50) | 0.59 (0.49) | 0.54 (0.50) | < 0.001 |
Roman Catholic (0/1) | 0.28 (0.45) | 0.34 (0.47) | 0.27 (0.45) | < 0.001 |
Protestant (0/1) | 0.10 (0.30) | 0.09 (0.28) | 0.10 (0.30) | < 0.001 |
Eastern Orthodox (0/1) | 0.11 (0.32) | 0.08 (0.28) | 0.12 (0.32) | < 0.001 |
Jewish (0/1) | 0.01 (0.09) | 0.01 (0.11) | 0.01 (0.09) | < 0.001 |
Islamic (0/1) | 0.04 (0.21) | 0.06 (0.24) | 0.04 (0.20) | < 0.001 |
Religiously active | − 0.02 (1.00) | 0.09 (1.07) | − 0.03 (1.00) | < 0.001 |
Values | ||||
Openness to change | − 0.15 (0.60) | − 0.09 (0.59) | − 0.16 (0.60) | < 0.001 |
Conservation | 0.02 (0.59) | − 0.04 (0.62) | 0.03 (0.58) | < 0.001 |
Self-enhancement | − 0.52 (0.73) | − 0.48 (0.75) | − 0.53 (0.72) | < 0.001 |
Self-transcendence | 0.58 (0.53) | 0.54 (0.53) | 0.58 (0.53) | < 0.001 |
Control variables | ||||
Male (0/1) | 0.55 (0.50) | 0.69 (0.46) | 0.53 (0.50) | < 0.001 |
Age (18–65) | 41.12 (11.48) | 44.08 (10.64) | 40.68 (11.54) | < 0.001 |
4.2 Multivariate analyses
4.2.1 Belonging to a religion
(1) Basic model | (2) Basic model + value dimension openness to change vs. conservation | (3) Basic model + value dimension self-enhancement vs. self-transcendence | |
---|---|---|---|
Religion | |||
Belonging to a religion | − 0.002 | 0.010** | − 0.002 |
(0.003) | (0.003) | (0.003) | |
Values | |||
Openness to change | 0.020*** | ||
(0.004) | |||
Conservation | − 0.036*** | ||
(0.004) | |||
Self-enhancement | 0.017*** | ||
(0.003) | |||
Self-transcendence | − 0.013*** | ||
(0.004) | |||
Control variables | |||
Male (0/1) | 0.072*** | 0.069*** | 0.067*** |
(0.003) | (0.003) | (0.003) | |
Age (18–65) | 0.012*** | 0.013*** | 0.012*** |
(0.001) | (0.001) | (0.001) | |
Age2 | − 0.000*** | − 0.000*** | − 0.000*** |
(0.000) | (0.000) | (0.000) | |
Country dummies | Included | Included | Included |
Wave dummies | Included | Included | Included |
Observations | 150,498 | 150,498 | 150,498 |
Pseudo-R2 | 0.058 | 0.067 | 0.061 |
4.2.2 Belonging to a particular religion
(1) Basic model | (2) Basic model + value dimension openness to change vs. conservation | (3) Basic model + value dimension self-enhancement vs. self-transcendence | |
---|---|---|---|
Religion | |||
Not belonging to a religion | Reference | Reference | Reference |
Roman Catholic | 0.002 | 0.015*** | 0.002 |
(0.004) | (0.004) | (0.004) | |
Protestant | − 0.012* | − 0.002 | − 0.012* |
(0.005) | (0.005) | (0.005) | |
Eastern Orthodox | − 0.008 | − 0.002 | − 0.009 |
(0.010) | (0.010) | (0.010) | |
Jewish | 0.090* | 0.094** | 0.084* |
(0.037) | (0.034) | (0.036) | |
Islamic | 0.016 | 0.039** | 0.014 |
(0.013) | (0.014) | (0.013) | |
Values | |||
Openness to change | 0.020*** | ||
(0.004) | |||
Conservation | − 0.037*** | ||
(0.004) | |||
Self-enhancement | 0.017*** | ||
(0.003) | |||
Self-transcendence | − 0.013*** | ||
(0.004) | |||
Control variables | |||
Male (0/1) | 0.071*** | 0.068*** | 0.067*** |
(0.003) | (0.003) | (0.003) | |
Age (18–65) | 0.012*** | 0.013*** | 0.012*** |
(0.001) | (0.001) | (0.001) | |
Age2 | − 0.000*** | − 0.000*** | − 0.000*** |
(0.000) | (0.000) | (0.000) | |
Country dummies | Included | Included | Included |
Wave dummies | Included | Included | Included |
Observations | 150,498 | 150,498 | 150,498 |
Pseudo-R2 | 0.058 | 0.068 | 0.061 |
4.2.3 Engaging actively in a religion
(1) Basic model | (2) Basic model + value dimension openness to change vs. conservation | (3) Basic model + value dimension self-enhancement vs. self-transcendence | |
---|---|---|---|
Religion | |||
Religiously active | 0.006* | 0.011*** | 0.007** |
(0.002) | (0.002) | (0.002) | |
Values | |||
Openness to change | 0.018** | ||
(0.006) | |||
Conservation | − 0.036*** | ||
(0.006) | |||
Self-enhancement | 0.015*** | ||
(0.004) | |||
Self-transcendence | − 0.021*** | ||
(0.006) | |||
Control variables | |||
Male (0/1) | 0.080*** | 0.078*** | 0.075*** |
(0.004) | (0.004) | (0.004) | |
Age (18-65) | 0.011*** | 0.012*** | 0.012*** |
(0.001) | (0.001) | (0.001) | |
Age2 | − 0.000*** | − 0.000*** | − 0.000*** |
(0.000) | (0.000) | (0.000) | |
Country dummies | Included | Included | Included |
Wave dummies | Included | Included | Included |
Observations | 83,113 | 83,113 | 83,113 |
Pseudo R2 | 0.067 | 0.074 | 0.070 |