Dimensions of Religiousness and Entrepreneurship : Evidence from Muslim Countries

This study investigates the role of religiousness - defined as a multidimensional set of religious beliefs, feelings, knowledge, and practice - on the likelihood for individuals to be entrepreneurs. We construct precise measures of both religiousness and entrepreneurship from the 2017 World Value Survey Middle East Regional Module (Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, and Lebanon). In general, religiousness decreases both entrepreneurship and entrepreneurial spirit. Yet, the impact differs across the intrinsic/extrinsic divide. Individuals who believe more, feel more, and pray more, are less likely to be entrepreneurs; individuals who attend services more often are more likely to be entrepreneurs. Interestingly, the effect is opposite for attitudes: strong beliefs and feelings towards religion lead to a more positive attitude towards entrepreneurship – but it does not translate into an actual behaviour. Fatalism, defined as a set of cosmological beliefs, partly explains our results. We also show that religious minorities are more likely to become entrepreneurs, but if they have developed a set of religious practices, and that women are less likely to become entrepreneurs, even more as they are religious