Religious Orthodoxy and Entrepreneurial Risk-Taking

The relationship between entrepreneurship and religion is complex (Dana 2010), and religion can help or hamper the entrepreneurial process, depending on the context and culture (Dana 2009; Dodd and Gotsis 2007). This article examines religious orthodoxy and its connection to one aspect of the entrepreneurial process—risk-taking within existing organizations. Using multinomial logistic regression to analyze data from the 2010 Baylor Religion Survey, the researchers find that religious orthodoxy is negatively associated with entrepreneurial risk-taking, even after controlling for traditional variables associated with entrepreneurism. It supports the idea that beliefs—and not just adherence or behaviors—are important to understanding the connection between entrepreneurial processes and religion.