Religion Shapes the Entrepreneur

Religion and entrepreneurship are important phenomena in the economy. It has been proven that religion is related with entrepreneurship and the economy (Bonacich, 1973; Porter, 1990; Gianetti & Simonov, 2004; Wiseman & Young, 2013). This research aims to bring more clarity on the relationship between different measurements for religion on entrepreneurship. This is achieved by investigating different proxies for religion on the likelihood of being an entrepreneur. There are different studies on religion and entrepreneurship using different proxies for religion. In this study a comparison is made between these proxies. We use four different proxies for religion: religious upbringing, religious affiliation, church attendance and frequency of prayer. Analysing the proxies for religion on the likelihood of being an entrepreneur illustrates that some proxies have association with entrepreneurship and some do not. Turning to the literature, it can be seen that there is a lack of consistency when it comes to the relationship between religion and entrepreneurship. Religion is connected to entrepreneurship through a set of principles (Scott, 1986). Kunkel (1970) emphasized that religious minorities tend to be highly entrepreneurial. Giannetti and Simonov (2004) have shown that religion is a part of the cultural values that affects the individual’s choice of being an entrepreneur. Other studies found that entrepreneurial decision is shaped by religion positively but also negatively (Audretsch, Boente, & Tamvada, 2007). Another study found that there were no differences between entrepreneurs and non-entrepreneurs when it came to religion (Drakapoulou Dodd & Seaman, 1998; Rietveld & Van Burg, 2013). The main findings of the quantitative research are that individuals with most religious affiliations are less likely to be business owners, this is also the case for individuals that pray weekly. Individual who attend church and those who do not does not differ significantly in the odds of being a business owner. Individual with a religious upbringing has a positive association with the likelihood of being a business owner. The quantitative research was at an individual level, hereby we could look at individual characteristic of the entrepreneur. This study contributes to the understanding of entrepreneurs and how religious behaviour impacted them. Further research can be conducted in other countries, with other proxies for religion or entrepreneurship. Religion can also impact other entrepreneurial processes such as successfulness or productiveness. Further research should examine these proxies for religion on other entrepreneurial activity or process.