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The protestant ethic and entrepreneurship: inside the black box

Author

Listed:
  • Luca Nunziata

    (University of Padua
    IZA)

  • Lorenzo Rocco

    (University of Padua
    IZA)

Abstract

We provide one of the first investigations of the cultural and value dimensions through which Protestantism affects entrepreneurship by focusing on the historically predetermined religious minorities residing in the regions of the former Holy Roman Empire. By exploiting the minorities’ strong attachment to religious ethic, we find that Protestantism significantly affects the probability to be an entrepreneur and that the effect is relatively larger when we consider larger enterprises. A formal mediation analysis suggests that among the rich set of individual characteristics and values typically associated with entrepreneurship available in our data, the dimensions that mediate the effect of Protestantism are education and a taste for individualism. In particular, such mediating factors explain around 26% of the total effect of Protestantism on entrepreneurship.

Suggested Citation

  • Luca Nunziata & Lorenzo Rocco, 2024. "The protestant ethic and entrepreneurship: inside the black box," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 62(4), pages 1285-1313, April.
    • Handle: RePEc:kap:sbusec:v:62:y:2024:i:4:d:10.1007_s11187-023-00838-3
    DOI: 10.1007/s11187-023-00838-3
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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Entrepreneurship; Religion; Protestantism; Catholicism; Culture; Value; Mediation;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • L26 - Industrial Organization - - Firm Objectives, Organization, and Behavior - - - Entrepreneurship
    • Z12 - Other Special Topics - - Cultural Economics - - - Religion
    • Z13 - Other Special Topics - - Cultural Economics - - - Economic Sociology; Economic Anthropology; Language; Social and Economic Stratification

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