Title: The role of religion in entrepreneurship participation and perception

Authors: Peter Carswell, Deborah Rolland

Addresses: School of Management and Entrepreneurship, Unitec New Zealand, Private Bag 92025, Auckland, New Zealand. ' School of Communication, Unitec New Zealand, Private Bag 92025, Auckland, New Zealand

Abstract: This paper examines the relationship between religion and entrepreneurship and whether religious practice impacts on how individuals view the individual and societal contribution of business enterprise. Religion and enterprise have a complex interdependent relation (Dodd and Seaman, 1998; Anderson et al., 2000), with the Western Protestant work ethic raising entrepreneurship to a privileged status. As ethnic diversity has increased within the western world, so too has the religious mix of value systems and religious belief systems that come with such diversity/religions. Paralleling increasing diversity is the decreasing participation rates in the traditional Christian churches. We question the impact of this changing religious mix on entrepreneurial participation and perception. Our findings indicate that increasing ethnic diversity and associated religious value systems are certainly not going to negatively reduce the business start-up rate. If anything, the start-up rate may be enhanced.

Keywords: religion; entrepreneurship; immigration; entrepreneurial participation; entrepreneurial perception; ethnic diversity; start-ups; immigration; New Zealand.

DOI: 10.1504/IJESB.2004.005659

International Journal of Entrepreneurship and Small Business, 2004 Vol.1 No.3/4, pp.280 - 286

Published online: 10 Nov 2004 *

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