The impact of religiosity on self-employment

Abstract

Purpose This paper aims to examine the relationship between religiosity based on the area with the number of self-employment in an area, i.e. city of Surakarta, Indonesia. Design/methodology/approach The researcher conducted a survey in 67 mosques in Surakarta, Indonesia, to capture religiosity level based on the area. Spearman correlation approach has been selected to investigate the relationship between religiosity and self-employment. Findings This study found that despite the female population being greater than male population in every district in Surakarta, on average, the number of female prayers were significantly less than male prayers either in Fajr or Maghrib prayer. In fact, the average number of Fajr prayers almost 50 per cent less than the average number of Maghrib prayers. Finally, the researcher found that the number of employees who work in the home industry is higher in the area that has a smaller gap on the number of Fajr and Maghrib prayers. Thus, the researcher might conclude that religiosity is positively associated with self-employment. Originality/value To best of researcher’s knowledge, this is the first study that investigates the relationship between religiosity level based on the area and self-employment. In addition, this study proposes a new methodology to measure Muslim’s religiosity. All in all, this study tries to untangle the conflicting evidence on the impact of religiosity on the self-employment.

Does religiosity affect entrepreneurial intention across countries?

“…Musallam and Kamarudin (2021) asserted that the relationship between religious beliefs and EI is complicated and tough to understand. Wijaya (2019) mentioned that religiosity majorly impacts the intentions of humans. Different religions and beliefs have different perceptions regarding entrepreneurship.…”

“…It is argued that religion is a source of guiding principles of life in the world and afterwards and encourages people to work to save their lives, avoid begging and create new job opportunities (Alshebami and Alzain, 2022). Earlier studies have primarily assessed the implications of religiosity on economic growth & development (Tu et al ., 2011; Qayyum et al ., 2020; Brañas-Garza and Neuman, 2021), competitiveness (Yeganeh, 2013); income inequality (Joshanloo and Weijers, 2016; Awaworyi Churchill et al ., 2019), financial inclusion (Kose and Cinar, 2020; Ji, 2020), and self-employment (Wijaya, 2019).…”

Does religiosity affect financing activity? Evidence from Indonesia

“…Existing studies try to measure religiosity in several ways. In past studies, religiosity level was captured by using the ratio of the number of adherents to religion out of the population of a county (He & Hu, 2016; Hilary & Hui, 2009), the distance between firms and religious “infrastructure” such as Buddhist monasteries (Du et al, 2014), the number of churches, Mosques, temples at province level (Wang & Lin, 2014), and the gap between the number of Fajr prayers and Maghrib prayers in the Mosque (Wijaya, 2019). An alternative way is a direct approach (Ahmad et al (2008) for the Islamic context and Allport and Ross (1967)) that measures religiosity at a personal level (by surveying them).…”

Spirituality and entrepreneurship: integration of spiritual beliefs in an entrepreneurial journey

“…It could be intangible benefits to society as well. The goodness that must be brought into the community can be achieved through operant or operand resources (Wijaya, 2019). This belief system will eventually shape the decision-making of the spiritual person.…”