The mediating role of planned behaviour in the religiosity and nascent entrepreneurship nexus

Abstract

Purpose

Increasingly, there is scholarly recognition that individuals' faith constitutes a background factor much like other antecedents conditioning entrepreneurial inclination. Yet, there is room to expand knowledge on how faith interrelates with psychological and social determinants of entrepreneurship, especially in under-researched contexts such as Nigeria.

Design/methodology/approach

This inquiry conceptualises associations between religiosity and (1) entrepreneurial self-efficacy, (2) entrepreneurial attitudes (3) and subjective norms as predictors of nascent entrepreneurship. For analysis, 1,259 observations of Nigerian students are assessed by structural equation modelling.

Findings

The path analysis showed that the religiosity–nascent entrepreneurship nexus is altogether mediated by entrepreneurial self-efficacy, entrepreneurial attitudes and subjective norms. Entrepreneurial self-efficacy is found to have the greatest impact on nascent entrepreneurship, followed by subjective norms and then entrepreneurial attitudes.

Originality/value

Theoretically, this study is one of the first to test all three dimensions of the theory of planned behaviour in the religiosity–nascent entrepreneurship nexus. It draws fresh attention to faith motivation and praxis, role-taking and attribution theory as explainers of the inherent correlations. Practically, the findings summon stakeholders to consider religious activity in the delivery of entrepreneurship programmes.

Citation

Onjewu, A.-K.E., Anosike, P. and Godwin, E.S. (2023), "The mediating role of planned behaviour in the religiosity and nascent entrepreneurship nexus", International Journal of Entrepreneurial Behavior & Research, Vol. 29 No. 8, pp. 1950-1969. https://doi.org/10.1108/IJEBR-08-2022-0771