Religious Entrepreneurs Research Articles

Digital transformation and religious entrepreneurship in Nigeria: integrating artificial intelligence toward competitive advantage

PurposeBased on the technology acceptance model (TAM), this study contextually examines the level of willingness of religious entrepreneurs to accept and implement artificial intelligence (AI) tools. Furthermore, it aims to explore the challenges and prospects of AI adoption among entrepreneurs.Design/methodology/approachFollowing a qualitative approach, the data were collected from 12 informants from different segments of religious entrepreneurship in Nigeria. Semi-structured interviews and deductive thematic analysis were used to collect data.FindingsThe findings show that religious entrepreneurs demonstrate commendable level of awareness of the availability and usefulness of AI tools that support secular and sacred entrepreneurial pursuits. Furthermore, findings indicate that they have fully integrated AI in their secular entrepreneurial affairs but still demonstrate restraints in implementing it in certain sacred functions. Several challenges including shortage of finance, trained manpower and equipment are faced by the entrepreneurs.Originality/valueTheoretically, the findings demonstrate that AI awareness and perceived usefulness influence the intention of religious entrepreneurs to integrate AI into religious entrepreneurship, while perceived ease of use does not.

Modern religion as vestigial structure: an evolutionary account of secularisation

ABSTRACT This article offers a new solution to a theoretical problem facing scholars attempting to interpret religion and secularisation in light of biological evolution. Some scholars argue that the diversity of religious beliefs and rituals in contemporary societies is compatible with secularisation or even facilitates it by weakening the plausibility structures of any one religion. Other scholars argue that religious diversity is not evidence of a decrease in interest in religion but rather shows the ingenuity of religious entrepreneurs. Here we extend the former school of thought by outlining a theory of the vestigilisation of religion. We describe three key characteristics of vestigial structures (increasing variability, decreasing costliness and the appearance of novel functions) and identify shifts in these characteristics in some religious traits. We argue that this supports the idea that religious diversity is a predictable effect of secularisation.

Altruistic entrepreneurs: How does religious belief affect entrepreneurial career persistence?

ABSTRACT This article investigates the influence of entrepreneurs’ religious beliefs on entrepreneurial career persistence, with altruism as a mediating mechanism at the psychological level. Based on the theory of role boundary permeability, we propose that the moral values contained in entrepreneurs’ religious beliefs permeate into their entrepreneurial domain, making them more altruistic. Using a unique longitudinal, multilevel dataset derived from the China Family Panel Studies (CFPS), we tested our hypotheses on 4,848 observations of entrepreneurs’ career persistence spanning three consecutive two-year periods (2012−2014, 2014−2016, and 2016−2018) using multilevel logistic regression. Our findings show that religious beliefs enhance entrepreneurial altruism and subsequently increase the probability of entrepreneurial career persistence. More broadly, our study provides new insights into the psychological-level mechanisms at work in the entrepreneurial practice of religious entrepreneurs, adding an important new explanation to the limited research on how religion matters for entrepreneurship.

Not by what we see: how Christian religious beliefs influence market and community logics in a rural context

PurposeThis study aims to address decision-making processes of Christian entrepreneurs living and working in rural areas. The authors draw on the institutional logics perspective and stewardship perspective to demonstrate how religion influences rationality and entrepreneurial decision-making processes in a rural context.Design/methodology/approachThis study adopts a qualitative interpretive approach supported by ethnographic fieldwork. Qualitative and interpretative analyses are used to access deeper insights into the decision-making processes of Christian entrepreneurs in a rural environment. Data include short-term immersive events, observations and interviews as COVID-19 pandemic restrictions lifted in the region.FindingsThis study reveals that normative (religious) commitments – a sense of moral duty and action influenced by religion – and a high-religiosity context – where religion permeates diverse aspects of life – lead to behaviors that are perceived as rational and normative. In this context, the normative relationship between a market and a community logic, alongside a logic of religion, are all linked through a stewardship perspective. A broad focus on the development of community and place also safeguards business and community interests.Research limitations/implicationsSince the findings are based on one rural area and one religion, future studies should address a broader range of geographical areas and religions. In this study, uncertainty arising from COVID-19 pandemic restrictions and the resumption of business exchanges also influence the decision-making processes of the entrepreneurial participants. While the findings reflect the normative dispositions and the decision-making processes that are inherent in this context, an even broader examination of rural entrepreneurship will benefit our understanding of entrepreneurial decisions in terms of rationality and place.Practical implicationsThe findings reveal that entrepreneurs who relocate to a rural, high-religiosity context should first assess how the community affiliated through a set of beliefs – expects actors to behave. Additionally, applicability to other religions requires further consideration.Originality/valueThis study answers the call to examine entrepreneurship and the underpinnings of rationality that challenge mainstream debates on entrepreneurial decision-making and religion. The findings answer this call by advancing the knowledge of the decision-making process of religious entrepreneurs. In this respect, the findings present a context where rational business behaviors, influenced by a market logic, are transformed through exchanges with a community informed by a logic of religion. A conceptual model illustrates the nature of this context and associated processes.

Entrepreneurial orientation far beyond opportunity: the influence of the necessity for innovativeness, proactiveness and risk-taking

PurposeThis paper aims to investigate factors that induce entrepreneurial orientation (EO), i.e. what influences the manifestation of its fundamental attributes (innovativeness, proactiveness and risk-taking).Design/methodology/approachThis study focuses on religious entrepreneurship in an emerging economy, employing a single case study approach. A total of 17 shepherd-entrepreneurs and 4 parishioners were interviewed.FindingsThe results suggest that two key driving factors influence religious entrepreneurs’ EO: the search for the discovery of opportunity (a finding that strengthens current literature); and both the search for the creation of opportunity and overcoming challenges associated with the need for survival.Practical implicationsThis paper allows entrepreneurs to understand better the factors and motivations that affect their entrepreneurial behavior. It is particularly relevant to entrepreneurs embedded in emerging and developing countries, in which the interchange between opportunity and need contexts is apparent. Further, this paper sheds light on significant dimensions for entrepreneurs’ education and training programs. It also suggests elements capable of bolstering public policies.Originality/valueThe contributions of this paper are fourfold: it supports an integrative view of creation and discovery theories; it reinforces the alternating character of entrepreneurial motivations; it expands the literature by arguing that creating opportunity and the need for survival also influence entrepreneurs' innovativeness, proactivity and risk-taking; and it stresses the neo-Pentecostal shepherds' entrepreneurial propensity.

Review: Translocal Lives and Religion: Connections between Asia and Europe in the Late Modern World, edited by Philippe Bornet

Review: <i>Translocal Lives and Religion: Connections between Asia and Europe in the Late Modern World</i>, edited by Philippe Bornet

Religion and unproductive entrepreneurship: The role of risk aversion

Institutions can shape the reward structure in the economy and thereby influence the allocation of entrepreneurship between productive and unproductive activities. This paper investigates the effect of religion, one important component of informal institutions, on unproductive entrepreneurship. Using a nationally representative survey on private enterprises in China, we find that religious entrepreneurs devote more of their resources, both in terms of money and time, to unproductive activities such as building social relations than their nonreligious peers. We further find that religion plays a significant role only in regions with weak regulatory institutions and/or for entrepreneurs vulnerable to institutional risks. Drawing on the close link between risk-aversion and religion, our results suggest that religious entrepreneurs engage in unproductive activities so as to reduce institutional risks in their business operations.

Competition for Religious Authority and Islamist Mobilization in Indonesia

This article seeks to explain variations in the success of Islamist mobilization. It argues that Islamist groups do better where competition for religious authority is intense. These religious "markets" are conducive to Islamist success because they 1) lower the barriers of entry to new religious entrepreneurs, 2) incentivize established leaders to support Islamist mobilization, and 3) push moderate leaders into silence. The article develops this theory by examining sub-regional variations in Islamist mobilization on the Indonesian island of Java. Using newly collected data on Java's 15,000 Islamic schools, it compares religious institutions across more than 100 regencies in Java. It also uses dozens of field interviews with Indonesian Islamists and Muslim leaders to show where market structures have facilitated the growth of Islamist groups.

Relational influence on entrepreneurial orientation: an exploratory study of small religious enterprises in Brazil

PurposeEntrepreneurial orientation (EO) is highly emerging in the management literature. However, recent studies highlight the necessity to associate with reflections on this theme, usually approached from an economic perspective, propositions also derived from relational approaches. This paper aims to investigate associations between EO and social networks, specifically about the still little explored relational coupling/decoupling theme.Design/methodology/approachThis paper provides an empirical and qualitative study of religious entrepreneurs. A total of 18 pastors responsible for creating and leading independent neo-Pentecostal churches located in Belo Horizonte/Brazil, selected using the snowball technique, participated in this qualitative, case-study research. Two analysis categories guided data collection: pastors’ EO (behaviors suggestive of their innovativeness, proactivity, competitive aggressiveness, risk-taking and autonomy) and churches’ social framework (the resources and attributes that pastors obtain from their institutional structure).FindingsThe study concludes that pastors combine attributes representing their EO and their social structure in developing their religious endeavors.Research limitations/implicationsAmong the limitations are the restricted use of semi-structured interviews as a data collection source and the absence of data proving the churches’ performance.Originality/valueThe paper contributes by showing that entrepreneurs can influence the structure of their networks by using EO; proving that networks influence pastors’ EO; revealing recursivity between EO and networks; emphasizing a relational dimension of the EO construct and presenting new theoretical propositions that can be explored and tested in future investigations.

Introduction to the Special Issue on Religious Entrepreneurship

Islamic and Christian societies in Africa are at the heart of thriving religious developments amid challenging economic and political transformations. This article introduces the special issue by laying out the current state of the literature on religious entrepreneurship and religious transformations and demonstrates how our contributors position themselves vis-à-vis this literature. It explains how, by analyzing select individual trajectories of Islamic and Christian religious entrepreneurs, contributors to this special issue shed light on logics of upward social mobility whereby these individuals seize the new opportunities provided by social and political liberalization. But beyond the notion of individual success, these entrepreneurs are deeply embedded within various social networks, without which their trajectories would be impossible to decipher.

Malaysian Sandwich Generation Issues and Challenges in Elderly Parents Care

Ageing is a growing concern all around the world. It is the biggest challenge for developing and developed countries, including Malaysia. Malaysia is a country, where ageing care centre runs under the government, NGOs and public sector, and recently few of the religious centres and entrepreneurs are working in this regard. However, still the facilities are lacking ; therefore; all across Malaysia Sandwich Generation families are still providing support to the elderly by themselves. Hence, this paper aims to highlight the concept of Sandwich Generation under the perspective of ageing issues in Malaysia. The “Sandwich Generation” is still an unknown term for Malaysian Society. It practically focuses on the new inclinations in a familial responsibility in the form of support and care for elderly parents along with children. This paper discusses the issues and challenges confronted by the sandwich generation (who are taking care of family and supporting elderly) residing in the leading states of Malaysia. This study adopts the qualitative research strategy, and the population consists of five sandwich generation families living in main states of Malaysia (Johor, Penang, Kedah, Selangor and Klang Valley area). The results highlight that issues such as financial, emotional, dim future, stress, fewer savings and time management are main issues confronting sandwich generation while they perform their role as a caregiver in Malaysia. A recommendation plan is being produced by keeping in view the problems facing by the sandwich generation.

Does religion enhance firm performance? Evidence from private firms in China

We study the impact of religiosity on firm performance in China. We find that entrepreneurs with religious beliefs have higher accounting performance. Firms are more likely to obtain bank credit if entrepreneurs have religious beliefs as religiosity stimulate them to invest more in networking, which further enhance the access to bank credit. Religious entrepreneurs have more trust towards external people, which incentivizes them to adopt a shareholding reform and employ external professional CEOs instead of family members, and thus enhances the corporate governance of these firms. In contrast, religious entrepreneurs also prefer family members as shareholders and inheritance of the firm by family members. The preference of inheritance of the firm by family members undermines the enhancing effect of external CEOs on firm performance. Religious entrepreneurs are more likely to spend more on safety insurance for employees, which is driven by the altruism originated from religious doctrines and also the risk aversion channel. The impact of religiosity complements market institutions, and political and social status of the entrepreneurs, which shows the interaction between religion and formal market institutions. We find that it's mainly Buddhism that drives our results, while other religions have limited impact on business activities in the country.

The Fraternité Notre Dame: From Emergence in Fréchou to Sojourn in Chicago

Abstract The Fraternité Notre Dame is a traditionalist Catholic Marian movement founded in 1977 by Bishop Jean Marie Kozik, né Roger Kozik. Kozik received monthly visions, primarily of the Virgin Mary, and established the Fraternité as a Marian devotional movement in Fréchou, southern France. This article analyzes and contextualizes the history of the Fraternité Notre Dame and its founder Bishop Jean Marie, showing how Jean Marie and his movement responded as religious entrepreneurs, innovating in response to the growing tension between the Fraternites and their religious-cultural context, which culminated in their choice to leave France and reestablish themselves in Chicago. The article analyzes the content of the visions, which both reflected this disconnect as well as spurred it onwards. The visions are contextualized within postconciliar Catholicism and the conservative backlash to the reforms of the Second Vatican Council, and reflect both a specific French Catholic context and a global apocalyptic vision of a threatened Catholic Church. Finally, the article considers the group’s institutionalization in Chicago as the culmination of the friction between the Fraternité Notre Dame and its cultural and religious origin in Catholic France.

Big Gods, socio-cultural evolution and the non-obvious merits of a sociological interpretation

ABSTRACT Much of the recent, renewed interest in the cultural evolution of religion has been driven by findings in experimental and cognitive psychology, and, as a result of disciplinary boundaries, sociologists have engaged very little with this new data and theory. In order to bring sociology formally back into this discussion, we provide in this paper five sociological sources for the birth and diffusion of ‘Big God’ ideation (with monotheism serving as a paradigmatic case). Agentically, we suggest that Big God beliefs assuaged existential anxiety, aided in elite legitimation and were useful for religious entrepreneurs hoping to establish new institutional fields. Structurally, we suggest that Big God beliefs may have been an epiphenomenal attempt by people to symbolically represent the centralization of political authority and the intensified use of new technologies. We conclude with a general theory of the cultural evolution of Big Gods that integrates these agentic and structural explanations.

Performing Arab Saints and Marketing the Prophet: Habaib and Islamic Markets in Contemporary Indonesia

Post-Soeharto Indonesia has witnessed the proliferation of young Arab preachers along with their sermon groups (majelis ta‘lim and zikr) in urban areas. The preachers who claim descent from the Prophet are popularly called habib (sing.) or habaib (pl.) Their sermon groups are highly mobile in various public spaces and have attracted thousands of followers predominantly from among Muslim youths. This essay locates the proliferation of habaib sermon groups in the context of burgeoning Islamic commodification in Indonesia. It considers habaib as religious entrepreneurs who promote their religious products in an expanding religious market. Focusing on Habib Hasan’s da‘wa and his marketing strategies it argues that, unlike other celebrity preachers who largely capitalize on their public speaking skills, the habaib preachers gain their religious authority and popularity through commodification of their habib status (as descendants of the Prophet) and their Arabness through adept use of new media and popular culture that accommodates the aspirations of Muslim youth.

Bringing religion back in

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to investigate the influence of religious entrepreneurs on bank loans and further examine the moderating effect of entrepreneurial gender.Design/methodology/approachIn 2010, the Chinese national survey reported the different religious beliefs of private entrepreneurs. Using this set of survey data, the authors obtain a sample of 4,330 Chinese family firms and employ the Tobit regression approach to examine the relationship between the amount of bank loans and the religious background of entrepreneurs. In addition, the authors use the propensity score matching approach to address the endogeneity issue.FindingsBased on the data from the 2010 national survey, the authors document that the amount of bank loans is significantly higher for Chinese family firms with religious entrepreneurs than for their counterparts. This finding suggests that religious individuals are inclined to be more ethical and honest and Chinese family firms with religious entrepreneurs transfer soft information to banks, and eventually lenders favor religious entrepreneurs with more bank loans. Moreover, the authors reveal that the amount of bank loans is significantly larger for firms with female entrepreneurs than for those without female entrepreneurs. In addition, entrepreneurial gender attenuates the positive relationship between religious entrepreneurs and bank loans.Originality/valueThis study is one of few studies to examine the influence of an entrepreneur’s religious belief on bank credit decisions and adds to previous studies about religious influence on corporate behavior by revealing a positive association between religious entrepreneurs and bank loans. Moreover, this study validates that female entrepreneurs exert positive effects on the amount of bank loans and attenuate the positive influence of religious entrepreneurs on bank loans.

Challenges for Entrepreneurs of ‘Religious Tourism Circuits’: A Study of ‘Holy City’ Kurukshetra

Government of India launched a ‘Swadesh Darshan Scheme’ in January 2015 that pinpoints 13 designated circuits including Ramayana circuit, Krishna Circuit, Buddhist Circuit, and Spiritual Circuit to promote religious and cultural tourism in the country. Kurukshetra is a ‘Holy City’ of State of Haryana that is recently been added in ‘Krishna Religious Tourism Circuit’. ‘Krishna Circuit’ embraces inherent mythology and beliefs pertaining to Lord Krishna and includes different place of Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, Gujrat, and Odisha for tourism facilitation. This scheme is alleged to contribute significantly in increasing the attractiveness of certain religious tourist destinations. Tourism entrepreneurs like hoteliers, restaurant owners, tour operators, travel agencies as well as religious entrepreneurs (Shinde, 2010) such as religious gurus, priests and managers of temples and ashrams are expected to get benefited from the initiatives proposed in the scheme in varied ways. Given the significant role of this scheme for growth of entrepreneurs, the present study aims to highlight the challenges faced by entrepreneurs that deserve attention of policy makers.

Value of faith: Religious entrepreneurs and corporate longevity

AbstractUsing the data on the religious belief of entrepreneurs in Chinese family firms, this study shows that religious entrepreneurs significantly positively affect corporate longevity, echoing the view that religious entrepreneurs can obtain managerial skills and share managerial knowledge about corporate operation through the conduit of religious attendance, and thus firms with religious entrepreneurs are more long-lived. Moreover, the development of factor markets across different provinces in China reinforces this positive relation between religious entrepreneurs and corporate longevity. Furthermore, qualitatively similar results can be found from various robustness tests, and our conclusions still stand after controlling for the potential selection bias in the research sample. Lastly, after differentiating different religious beliefs, the positive relation between religious entrepreneurs and corporate longevity is only valid for Western religious beliefs (but not for Eastern religious beliefs), and the reinforced role of the development of factor markets only stands for Eastern religious beliefs.

The impact of religiosity, environmental marketing orientation and practices on performance

Purpose This paper aims to investigate the environmental marketing orientation of Muslim entrepreneurs and looks at its relationship with environmental marketing and organizational performance in the context of small and medium enterprises in Indonesian. The study also examines the role of religiosity as a moderator on the relationship between environmental marketing orientation and green marketing. Design/methodology/approach The paper is empirical and quantitative in nature. The sample of the study is Muslim entrepreneurs in West Java and Central Java Indonesia. The data were analyzed using descriptive statistics and partial least square analysis. Findings Environmental orientation has a positive relationship with environmental marketing and operational and economic performance. Nonetheless, the study suggests no significant influence of environmental marketing on commercial performance due to “greenwashing” practices. Religiosity appears to moderate the relationship between environmental orientation and environmental marketing practices. Research limitations/implications The lack of papers on Islamic marketing makes the depth of discussion somewhat limited. Practical implications The recommendation of this study provides a new path to the local government in mitigating the issue of environmental destructions occurring because of entrepreneurs’ business practices. This study has demonstrated the importance of cultivating religious values among society and specifically entrepreneurs as moral guidelines to further strengthen ethical behavior while conducting businesses. The government may endorse more teaching hours on Islamic curriculum at school to create the generation of religious entrepreneurs. Social implications The act of preserving the environments while conducting businesses is one form of worship in Islam as such we call for the elaboration and application of strategies to instill the paradigm of excellent merchants among Muslim. Originality/value This paper is the first of its kind which empirically testing the relationship between environmental marketing and firms performance with religiosity as a moderator among Muslim entrepreneurs in Indonesia.

Divine Competition in Greco–Roman Polytheism

This paper surveys the main features of polytheistic religious organization in the ancient Greek and Roman world, emphasizing two aspects: there was substantial, multiple overlap between the jurisdictions of different gods, which increased over time and made the costs and uncertainty borne by supplicants ever more burdensome; and the priesthood was in general not a profession but a service undertaken, or assigned, in addition to political or military office. The growth of elective cults in the imperial age further complicated the range of offers but did not create a class of religious entrepreneurs. A simple economic model shows that such jurisdictional overlap was inefficient and that supplicants stood to gain from concentration and unification of the industry—that is, from one-stop shopping. This did not happen until the very end of paganism, so competition did not work. The reason for this non-event is found in the absence of a professional religious class with a vested interest in its occupation, one which could act as an interest group and profit from the unification of supply. This in turn suggests a nonstandard explanation of why, unlike other polytheistic systems such as Hinduism, Greco–Roman paganism died out without leaving a trace or any attempt at revival.