The relation between religion and entrepreneurship

This thesis examines the relation between religion and five types of entrepreneurship at the country level. In addition to this general relation, it also tests if different religions have a different effect on the level of entrepreneurship and if the relation between religion and entrepreneurship is mediated by culture. To test these relations, regressions are run and to test for the mediation effect the Sobel Goodman mediation test is used. The data in the analysis mainly comes from three databases: the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor, the World Religion Project and the Hofstede database. Most data comes from the year 2010. There is no statistically significant evidence found for a (positive) effect of religion on entrepreneurship, and neither for the hypothesis that different religions have a different effect on entrepreneurship. It is therefore not surprising that no significant mediation effect of culture between religion and entrepreneurship could be revealed. The conclusion is that the association between religion and entrepreneurship at the country level is very weak or absent. Still, it is possible that with analyzing more observations these relations can be revealed, so further research on this subject is recommended.