Jose Cerecedo Lopez, assistant professor of management, contributed to research reviewing how religious beliefs and practices may shape entrepreneurship.
Religion can shape how people see work, purpose, risk and success. New research by Jose Cerecedo Lopez, assistant professor of management in the Martha and Spencer Love School of Business, examines how those beliefs and practices may also influence entrepreneurship.
The co-authored article, 鈥,鈥 looks at entrepreneurship beyond traditional business measures such as profit, growth and market opportunity.
It asks how religious beliefs and practices may shape the way entrepreneurs understand risk, make decisions, build organizations and define success. The research also considers how entrepreneurship may affect religious organizations and communities, making the relationship more complex than religion simply influencing business.
Key Highlights:
- Religion may shape entrepreneurship at multiple points, from how entrepreneurs recognize opportunities and judge risk to how they seek funding, respond to uncertainty and define success.
- Different religious traditions and practices may influence entrepreneurs in different ways. The article notes research connected to Christianity, Islam, Buddhism, Confucianism, Judaism and other traditions, while cautioning that religion should not be treated as one single influence. Religious practice can also vary within the same religion.
- The article introduces a framework showing how religious beliefs and practices may overlap with entrepreneurial thinking and action. Religious beliefs may shape how entrepreneurs think about opportunity, while religious practices may shape how they build relationships, access resources or run organizations.
- The relationship may work both ways. Religion may shape entrepreneurship, but entrepreneurship may also shape religious organizations, practices and communities.
- Future research could look more closely at how religious entrepreneurs measure success beyond profit, including financial, social, psychological and spiritual outcomes.
鈥淭his research helps students think more carefully about how religion and faith can shape entrepreneurs鈥 motivations, decisions, relationships and definitions of success,鈥 said Cerecedo Lopez. 鈥淭hat is especially relevant for students in the inaugural Love School of Business Summer Business Institute, who are serving as consultants for Hustle USA, a non-denominational, faith-based entrepreneurial support organization launching in Charlotte.鈥
The article was published in Entrepreneurship & Regional Development with co-authors Chris Welter and Brett Smith at Miami University Ohio, Amanda Lawson at the University of Cincinnati and David Townsend at Virginia Tech.
Cerecedo Lopez joined 黑料不打烊 in Fall 2024. Lopez鈥檚 teaching and research focus on organizational theory, entrepreneurship and strategy, with particular interest in how individuals make decisions under uncertainty.