Prosperity Beliefs and Value Orientations: Fueling or Suppressing Entrepreneurial Activity

Abstract

Entrepreneurs tend to think differently than nonentrepreneurs. Among the differences are values prizing achievement and self-direction, while downplaying tradition and conformity. Religion is an important correlate to human values. Nevertheless, previous research has failed to explore adequately the connections among religious beliefs, human values, and entrepreneurial outcomes. The purpose of this study is to test these relationships with a focus on beliefs that God rewards the faithful with material prosperity. We test eight hypotheses using a national survey of working adults. Results of a multigroup path model reveal that value orientations of self-enhancement, openness to change, and conservation are associated with entrepreneurial attitudes of opportunity recognition and risk willingness. These attitudes likewise correlate with new business creation. Prosperity beliefs moderate the impact of values and entrepreneurial attitudes on the likelihood of starting a new business, but prosperity beliefs by themselves show little direct impact on entrepreneurial attitudes or action.

Planned Behavior and Religious Beliefs as Antecedents to Entrepreneurial Intention: A Study With University Students

“…According to Namatovu, Dawa, Adewale, and Mulira (2018), religious beliefs can shape the behavior of entrepreneurs by contributing to entrepreneurial identities. The connection between religious beliefs, personal values, and entrepreneurial activity was investigated by Dougherty, Neubert, and Park (2019), who verify that religious beliefs act as a moderating variable in the relationship between personal values and entrepreneurial activity. Riaz, Farrukh, Rehman, and Ishaque (2016), in turn, found that religion has an impact on entrepreneurial intention, confirming that the more religious an individual is, the greater the likelihood of becoming entrepreneurial; this is corroborated by Johnmark et al (2016) when they emphasize that religious beliefs predict entrepreneurial behavior.…”

Aspiring to Do All Things Through Him Who Strengthens? Quixotic Hope, Religiosity, and Mental Health in Emerging Adulthood

“…More broadly, individuals at later stages of the life course may have similarly ambitious aspirations in occupational or familial domains. Although a relatively nascent area of research, religiosity is known to have broad associations with goals in family domains, including expected marital timing and the importance of marriage as a goal (Ellison, Burdette, and Glenn 2011) and for occupational success, such as career choice and entrepreneurial attitudes toward business connection (Dougherty, Neubert, and Park 2019). The framework used in the current study could inform studies of whether religiosity may protect against the mental health consequences of inflated aspirations in familial, occupational, and other life domains.…”

The Prosperity Gospel of Coronavirus Response

“…As such, there is no widely accepted battery that can be drawn upon. However, the questions that were employed in our survey closely mirror those used by Dougherty, Neubert, andPark (2019), McDaniel (2016), as well as by McClendon and Riedl in their research situated in Africa (McClendon and Riedl 2019). Dougherty et al used a set of three questions which asked respondents to indicate on a five-point scale whether they agreed or disagreed with the following statements: "God promises that those who live out their faith will receive financial success; Believers who succeed in business are evidence of God's blessing; I believe faithful believers in God receive real financial benefits in this life."…”

“…Osteen, along with other international known pastors such as Kenneth Copeland, Creflo Dollar, and T.D. Jakes, reaches tens of millions of followers per week through television broadcasts and a social media presence with a message that is tinged with various levels of Prosperity theology (Dougherty, Neubert, and Park 2019). In fact, there is some data that indicates that half of the largest churches in the United States (over 10,000 attendees) teach theology that is rooted in the Prosperity Gospel (Bowler 2018).…”