Religion and spiritual influence on Igbo entrepreneurial behaviour and persistence

Q1 Business, Management and Accounting

Journal of Small Business and Entrepreneurship Pub Date : 2023-09-19 DOI:10.1080/08276331.2023.2253683

Paul Agu Igwe, Chinedu Ochinanwata, Rebecca Emeordi

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Abstract

This article examines how religiosity and spirituality influence entrepreneurial behaviour. The focus is on indigenous Igbos in Nigeria. Igbos are famous for successfully establishing transgenerational business legacies and indigenous enterprise clusters across West Africa. They are also notorious for their cultural devotion and belief in Chi or Chukwu (God), alusi (gods, spirits or deities), ndi ichie (ancestors) and the oracle. Hence, the majority of Igbo personal names contain the word ‘Chi’. Igbo cultural values are based on the spiritual maxims of ‘Onye a Hana Nwanne ya’ (don’t leave your brother behind), ‘Onye biri ebeya biri’ (live and let live) and ‘Akuruno’ (make wealth reach home). These charactertics make the Igbos a unique population, which allows us to examine the links between their entrepreneurial behaviour, religion and spirituality. Using a qualitative design (interviews), we analyzed expert data provided by 34 Igbo entrepreneurs to clarify these links. The findings reveal that ‘other-worldly’ and ‘this-worldly’ orientation are the two main forces that influence entrepreneurial behaviour. An ‘other-worldly’ orientation influences entrepreneurial behaviour such that the pursuit of a family business lifestyle has become the norm. Also, ‘this-worldly’ orientation influences entrepreneurial behaviour that is associated with risk-taking, informal entrepreneurial learning, community-based entrepreneurship, social responsibility, etc.

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宗教和精神对伊博人创业行为和坚持的影响

本文探讨了宗教信仰和灵性如何影响企业家行为。重点是尼日利亚的土著伊博人。伊博人以在西非成功建立跨代商业遗产和本土企业集群而闻名。他们也因其对Chi或Chukwu(上帝)，alusi(神，精神或神灵)，ndi ichie(祖先)和神谕的文化奉献和信仰而臭名昭著。因此，大多数伊博人的名字都包含“Chi”这个词。伊博人的文化价值观基于“不要丢下你的兄弟”(Onye a Hana Nwanne ya)、“活也让活”(Onye biri ebeya biri)和“Akuruno”(让财富回到家里)的精神格言。这些特征使伊博人成为一个独特的群体，这使我们能够研究他们的创业行为、宗教和精神之间的联系。采用定性设计(访谈)，我们分析了34名伊博企业家提供的专家数据，以澄清这些联系。研究结果表明，“超凡脱俗”和“现世”取向是影响创业行为的两股主要力量。“超凡脱俗”的取向影响着企业家的行为，以至于追求家族企业的生活方式已成为一种常态。此外，“现世”取向影响着与冒险、非正式创业学习、社区创业、社会责任等相关的创业行为。

本文章由计算机程序翻译，如有差异，请以英文原文为准。

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来源期刊

Journal of Small Business and Entrepreneurship Business, Management and Accounting-Business and International Management

CiteScore

11.90

自引率

0.00%

发文量

期刊介绍： Studies published in the JSBE can be from and based on Canada or other countries of the world. They can cover topics related to matters such as: A. Start-up and resource gathering for an SME -Starting, buying and selling an SME -Financing, funding, banking, venture capital, audit and accounting in SMEs -Entrepreneur characteristics, leadership and work-life balance -Identification of business opportunities, business incubators and mentorship -Support services to entrepreneurship and SMEs B. Functional management and growth of an SME -Sales and marketing in SMEs -Human resource management in SMEs -Operation management in SMEs -Innovation, knowledge management, learning and fast growth in SMEs -New technologies, Internet, and communication in SMEs -Regulation and taxes for SMEs -Growth of SMEs C. Strategic management and change in an SME -Strategic Management in SMEs -International entrepreneurship and SME internationalization -Networks, alliances and relationships with government and large enterprises -Managing change in an uncertain and changing environment -Factors of success and failure in SME and entrepreneurial firms D. New trends in entrepreneurship and SME management -Social entrepreneurship -Gender and female entrepreneurship -Indigenous entrepreneurship -Ethnic/diaspora/immigrant entrepreneurship -Youth and student entrepreneurship -Entrepreneurship in emerging/transition markets -Franchises, sport, health, consulting and other emerging types of SMEs -Corporate entrepreneurship E. Special topics in entrepreneurship and SME management -Family-based business -Social responsibility, environmental protection, governance, and ethics in SMEs -SMEs and regional, urban, rural, and national development -Entrepreneurship education -Epistemology, general theory development, and methods of research in entrepreneurship and SMEs -Entrepreneurship and sustainable development