The International Journal of Entrepreneurship and Innovation

Religions are depositories of values. Reviewing literature from the past century, this article argues that there is considerable empirical support for the thesis that religion and related beliefs influence values and thus shape entrepreneurship. This article shows that: (1) various religions value entrepreneurship to different degrees; (2) different religions yield dissimilar patterns of entrepreneurship; (3) specialization along religious lines shapes entrepreneurship; (4) credit networks, employment networks, information networks and supply networks of co-religionists affect entrepreneurship; (5) religions provide opportunities for entrepreneurship; (6) religious beliefs may also hamper entrepreneurial spirit; and (7) religions have built-in mechanisms for the perpetuation of values. Regardless of whether a person is religious, he or she is influenced by the values propagated by religion.

This paper contributes to the debate about religion and enterprise by analysing proto-Christianity's theology of enterprise values. It shows that the Galilean Jesus Movement (from around AD 24–30) exhibited considerable hostility to the pursuit of wealth, and that this stance became more pronounced still for the post-crucifixion Jerusalem Love Community (around AD 27–66), which also rejected individual property holding and labour. The Pauline school, which commenced with Paul's missionary journeys to Asia Minor in the late AD 40s, began the process of sanctifying labour. Nevertheless, a pronounced suspicion of the profit motive, and of a concern for trade, can be seen throughout the New Testament, in common with many of the antecedent Ancient Greek and Old Testament works by which it is influenced.

Using a historical approach, this paper revisits Max Weber's ‘Protestant ethic’, addressing in particular a variant form of it – the ‘Scottish work ethic’. It examines that ethic as both a collective and individuated theological drive that helped shape the proto-entrepreneurial proclivity of the Scottish people. The Scottish work ethic is a secularized drive peculiar to Scotland with its strong Calvinistic religious heritage and emphasis on hard work, thrift and education. From an academic perspective, although much has been written about the Protestant ethic and Weber's thesis, the same cannot be said of the Scottish work ethic. This paper fills this gap in the literature while extending consideration of the nature of the work ethic to include the power of religion and theological drives in the creation of the prevalent spirit of enterprise within a people.

This paper considers entrepreneurial leadership in a faith-based organization, the Scottish Episcopal Church (SEC), between 1996 and 2000. It analyses the strategy of the then Primate, Richard Holloway, to attempt to broaden the Church's membership base through a cultural change initiative. The initiative was designed to question and challenge existing cultural norms and attract new members who might not share them. Although Jungian type theory is usually applied to understanding individual differences, this paper employs type theory innovatively to describe and analyse the SEC's essentially pluralist culture at the time. It appears that a predominantly traditionalist approach was leavened with a more liberal and mystical strain. Holloway set out to define a new cultural vision embracing diversity and to attract others to make it happen. However, he was unable to convince enough existing SEC members that he was right to seek a more heterogeneous membership whose views would better reflect his own increasingly liberal stance. Understanding how fundamental views of reality, held often unconsciously by individuals, inform and influence culture in a faith-based organization sheds new light on the experiences of entrepreneurs in a religious environment. In this case, Jungian-derived type theory may explain how Holloway's entrepreneurial approach attempted to stretch existing cultural norms, reflecting tradition and convention, too far towards a questioning and challenging approach. An entrepreneurial strategy that appeared to make sense in rational terms (and to embrace the Christian ethic of universal acceptance) was ultimately unsuccessful in changing deeply held cultural norms.

Entrepreneurship, ‘the pursuit of opportunity regardless of the consequences’, is a privileged instrument of liberal market economics worldwide. Yet the financial turmoil resulting from the credit crunch suggests that the social and economic effects of unregulated entrepreneurial behaviour in pursuit of short-term profit are severe and self-defeating, resulting in massive destruction of value for national economies, businesses and individuals. This article examines the wider consequences of this ‘old’ entrepreneurship and, using examples, proposes the development of a ‘new’ entrepreneurship led by education, of which social responsibility, environmental sustainability and the practice of ethical and moral frameworks become integral components.

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