Religion as a social shaping force in entrepreneurship and business: Insights from a technology-empowered systematic literature review

Abstract

Religion is widely regarded as a social force that shapes entrepreneurship and business (EB) activity, behavior, and practice. However, a holistic review of religion and EB literature remains elusive, which could impede the field's advancement when competing arguments are introduced and pure replications are pursued. Therefore, this study conducts a technology-empowered systematic literature review using a combination of fit-for-purpose bibliometric software to examine the state of the literature on religion and EB research. The review reveals that existing research in the field have mainly focused on how religions such as Buddhism, Christianity, Hinduism, and Islam influence consumerism, corporate social responsibility, sustainability, leadership orientation, organizational culture, financial and social ethics, and socioeconomic development, and that future research can enrich the field by investigating religion in tandem with business education, marketing, economics and public policy, and cognitive characteristics and behavioral inclinations, as well as the reversed influence of EB on religious orientation.