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Article
Publication date: 30 June 2020

Sanya Ojo and Sonny Nwankwo

This paper aims to examine market-mediated transformative capacities of Black African Pentecostalism. It does this by exploring the interface between religion, culture and…

Abstract

Purpose

This paper aims to examine market-mediated transformative capacities of Black African Pentecostalism. It does this by exploring the interface between religion, culture and identity to generate a fresh interpretation of how marketing is ritualized among UK’s Black Africans on the platform of Pentecostalism.

Design/methodology/approach

Methodology is based on in-depth interviews with respondents drawn from the African Pentecostal movements in London, UK. This paper shows how adherents’ responsiveness to Pentecostal dogmas generated market advantages.

Findings

The paper reveals the interconnectedness of religion, faith and culture which, in turn, coalesced into a dense network that defines the reproduction, organization and approach to entrepreneurial marketing.

Originality/value

Pentecostal practices unveil the marketing notion of “Pentepreneurship”, which combines both spiritual and enterprise activities to formulate a fused space of engagement straddling the sacred and the secular. This fusion points to a unique platform of entrepreneurial marketing that bestrides ethno-cultural, religious and economic identities.

Details

Journal of Enterprising Communities: People and Places in the Global Economy, vol. 14 no. 3
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1750-6204

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 10 August 2015

Sanya Ojo

This study aims to intend to examine how African Pentecostals use the structure of their religion to re-enact their entrepreneurial ideals and uniqueness and develop enterprising…

Abstract

Purpose

This study aims to intend to examine how African Pentecostals use the structure of their religion to re-enact their entrepreneurial ideals and uniqueness and develop enterprising attitude and altitude. Also to appraise how they manipulate their ethnic cultural assets and faith-based networks to stimulate and maintain their entrepreneurial activities.

Design/methodology/approach

A case study of a specific religious organisation was exploited whereby a few number of adherents from a particular ethnic church in the UK were interviewed. The theoretical framework of Mead’s symbolic interaction was explored to accomplish the study’s objectives.

Findings

Findings demonstrate the ability of an ethnic minority group to adjust to a secondary range of social conditions in the country of residence through adoption of a theology that tracks the contours of their culture.

Research limitations/implications

This paper emphasises the significance of material expressions of spiritual agency that acts as instrument of establishing the active, progressing self of ethnic minority group in the country of residence, thus, illuminating the interconnections between religion and enterprise. Such understandings present great prospects to fabricate new sites of meaning among a particular minority group through understanding various contradictions embedded in their religious practices.

Practical implications

The study stresses the significance of material expressions of spiritual agency that acts as avenue for disadvantaged group to engage in entrepreneurial activities. The Pentecostal enclave thus helps immigrants to keep body and soul together in an environment that is embedded with ethnic penalties.

Social implications

The African Pentecostal movement serves, not only as instrument of converting others, but its Prosperity gospel emphasis the significance of material expression of spiritual agency. This acts as a means of establishing the active, progressing self, with capacity to produce law-abiding citizenry among ethnic groups.

Originality/value

The study illuminates the interconnections between religion and enterprise that offer great opportunities to fabricate new sites of meaning among a particular minority group through understanding various contradictions embedded in their religious practices.

Details

Journal of Enterprising Communities: People and Places in the Global Economy, vol. 9 no. 3
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1750-6204

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 22 June 2012

Sonny Nwankwo, Ayantunji Gbadamosi and Sanya Ojo

The purpose of this paper is to explore the intricate interconnection between religion, spirituality and pursuits of economic opportunities among ethnic entrepreneurs, using…

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Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to explore the intricate interconnection between religion, spirituality and pursuits of economic opportunities among ethnic entrepreneurs, using British Africans as a frame. Against the backcloth of institutional constraints confronting ethnic minorities, the paper investigates how African immigrants in the UK utilise ethnic‐based religious resources in the enactment of entrepreneurship. It focuses on the intersection between religion, spirituality, and entrepreneurship for the purpose of providing “below the surface” understandings of African entrepreneurship.

Design/methodology/approach

Rooted in the context of discovery rather than verification, the research approach involved the use of a focus group as an “entry point” in the collection of field data. This was followed up with one‐to‐one interviews so that key issues were then probed deeper whilst simultaneously allowing considerable scope to idiosyncratically explore particular meanings with research participants. The sample was drawn from British Africans in London.

Findings

African Pentecostal churches have become a significant force in nurturing business start‐ups and encouraging entrepreneurship among the population group. Social capital generated within the religious organizations has a catalytic effect on entrepreneurial propensities.

Research limitations/implications

The boundaries between enterprise and religion can be delicately thin and confusing, with wide‐ranging implications for policy interventions. For the entrepreneurs, reconciling religious orientation with the imperatives of entrepreneurship can be hugely problematic and this presents an opportunity in terms of support needs.

Originality/value

Ethnic‐based religious spaces have become a fecund ground for stimulating a brand of religion‐based ethnic entrepreneurship. This hybrid entrepreneurship is unique and offers a novel platform for constructing new understandings of ethnic entrepreneurship.

Details

Society and Business Review, vol. 7 no. 2
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1746-5680

Keywords

Book part
Publication date: 12 December 2011

Asonzeh Ukah

The last three decades of the 20th century was a period of momentous social, economic, political and religious turmoil in many African societies. Nigeria is a prime example…

Abstract

The last three decades of the 20th century was a period of momentous social, economic, political and religious turmoil in many African societies. Nigeria is a prime example. Although the economic transformations of this period were perhaps bigger than other kinds of change, religious shifts probably had more remarkable social effects. One particularly noticeable development was the emergence of a new strand of Pentecostalism that serves as a source of political power and as a vehicle for economic mobilisation. Embedded in a theology of materialism and a redefinition of ‘money’, this new ideology found a fertile ground among local and global corporations struggling to cope with problems such as a devalued currency and political corruption and instability. Using data from ethnographic research on the Redeemed Christian Church of God (RCCG), with more than 10,000 congregations worldwide, this chapter shows how the near economic meltdown of the last decades of the 20th century precipitated a massive religious (re)engagement with economic structures and practices in Nigeria.

Details

The Economics of Religion: Anthropological Approaches
Type: Book
ISBN: 978-1-78052-228-9

Article
Publication date: 31 July 2013

Sonny Nwankwo and Ayantunji Gbadamosi

This paper aims to explore how African‐Caribbean Pentecostals use the platform of their faith to reconstruct their entrepreneurial values and identities, improve entrepreneurial…

1178

Abstract

Purpose

This paper aims to explore how African‐Caribbean Pentecostals use the platform of their faith to reconstruct their entrepreneurial values and identities, improve entrepreneurial learning and exploit the cultural resources of faith‐based networks to promote and sustain their entrepreneurialism.

Design/methodology/approach

Methodological appropriateness rather than orthodoxy guided the design of this study. Rooted in the context of discovery rather than verification, focus groups were assembled and used for data collection. Ideas generated by the groups were further explored in narrative face‐to‐face interviews.

Findings

Findings indicate clear connections between motivation for entrepreneurship, entrepreneurial orientation, entrepreneurial learning and religious orientation among African‐Caribbean entrepreneurs. Religious orientation was evident as a context moderator within which relations of trust and ethnico‐religious compatibility generate social capital which, in turn, helps members to cope with the challenges of entrepreneurship.

Originality/value

This paper offers refreshing insights into the transcendental logic of black entrepreneurship, illuminating the interconnections between religion and enterprise. Such insights afford tremendous opportunities to construct new sites of meaning or frame new explanations of entrepreneurship among the population group – using religion as an important environmental munificence.

Details

Journal of Small Business and Enterprise Development, vol. 20 no. 3
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1462-6004

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 14 November 2019

Sanya Ojo

The purpose of this paper is to examine ethnic entrepreneurship within the contexts of religion, cultural hybridity, segregation, diasporic network and enterprise.

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to examine ethnic entrepreneurship within the contexts of religion, cultural hybridity, segregation, diasporic network and enterprise.

Design/methodology/approach

The study collected two sets of data from 15 black African respondents/entrepreneurs through face-to-face interviews in London, UK.

Findings

Findings point to immigrants’ entrepreneurial adaptation through traditional and dogmatic interpretations of religious beliefs in the informal sector.

Originality/value

The paper offers fresh insights into the religion/faith and socio-cultural meld in the sagacity of black African entrepreneurship. Such insights afford great opportunities to construct new sites of meaning or frame new explanations of entrepreneurship among the ethnic group – using religion and culture as important environmental munificence.

Details

Journal of Enterprising Communities: People and Places in the Global Economy, vol. 13 no. 5
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1750-6204

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 24 May 2013

Sonny Nwankwo

This paper aims to explore how the complex interrelationship between historical factors and socio‐economic contexts contributed in shaping the contemporary representation of…

Abstract

Purpose

This paper aims to explore how the complex interrelationship between historical factors and socio‐economic contexts contributed in shaping the contemporary representation of African entrepreneurship in Britain. Using this prism, it highlights some of the critical developmental challenges and future prospects.

Design/methodology/approach

In order to track the connection between historical/immigration experiences and conditions of entrepreneurial development among Africans in Britain, the paper follows in the tradition of socio‐historical method. It leans on syntheses drawn from a broader underpinning literature.

Findings

The way in which the historiography of African entrepreneurship is generally presented reveals hybrid and ambivalent positions; guiding as well as constraining the representation of entrepreneurial choices of contemporaneous British Africans. Historical antecedents have strong explanatory powers in the construction or reconstruction of entrepreneurial identities of British Africans.

Practical implications

Against the backcloth of the problems generally encountered in attempts to stimulate and support entrepreneurship in black and African communities in Britain, policy designers very often ignore the fact the solutions will have to be sought from within the paradigms that created the problems. The positioning of this paper is intended to begin to plug this gap.

Originality/value

The concept of discourse is critical to understanding entrepreneurial processes of British Africans and bears careful explanation to their entrepreneurial transitions. This angle of inquiry is novel, with possibilities for opening new sites of knowledge.

Details

Journal of Enterprising Communities: People and Places in the Global Economy, vol. 7 no. 2
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1750-6204

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 13 July 2015

Ayantunji Gbadamosi

This paper aims to unravel how membership of Pentecostal fellowships aids the entrepreneurial activities of African-Caribbean (AC) members. While many issues about the…

Abstract

Purpose

This paper aims to unravel how membership of Pentecostal fellowships aids the entrepreneurial activities of African-Caribbean (AC) members. While many issues about the entrepreneurial engagements of AC people have been discussed in the literature, there are far less studies documented about the link of these activities to faith, especially in the context of Pentecostalism.

Design/methodology/approach

Adopting the interpretive research paradigm, a total of 25 tape-recorded, semi-structured, in-depth interviews were conducted with AC entrepreneurs who are members of Pentecostal faith-based organisations in London, and pastors in this same sphere. Sixteen of the respondents are entrepreneurs running and managing their businesses, seven are pastors and the remaining two fall in both categories, as they are both entrepreneurs and still serving as pastors in churches in London. Rather than merely serving as gatekeepers for information, the pastors are active participants/respondents in the study.

Findings

The paper highlights the challenges confronting the AC ethnic entrepreneurs, but also suggests that those in the Pentecostal faith are motivated and emboldened by the shared values in this religion to navigate the volatile marketing environment. It unveils participants’ faith in God as their key business survival strategy. It also shows the unwavering confidence of the respondents that this religious stance results in outstanding business successes like increase in sales and profits, competitive edge, divine creativity and innovation, opportunity recognition, networks, institutional support and other factors that underpin entrepreneurship.

Originality/value

This study unpacks the thickly blurred link between Pentecostalism as a thriving religious orientation among the AC ethnic group in the UK and their entrepreneurial engagements.

Details

Society and Business Review, vol. 10 no. 2
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1746-5680

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 4 July 2018

Dave Valliere

This paper aims to explore cultural attitudes and beliefs about entrepreneurship in the southwestern region of Cameroon. This study also identifies the existence of subcultural…

Abstract

Purpose

This paper aims to explore cultural attitudes and beliefs about entrepreneurship in the southwestern region of Cameroon. This study also identifies the existence of subcultural variations with important implications for the development of entrepreneurial activities in Cameroon.

Design/methodology/approach

The paper uses the hybrid qualitative/quantitative Q methodology to survey and analyze a purposively diverse sample of individuals and thereby discover subcultural structures and patterns to the attitudes and beliefs that exist in Cameroonian culture.

Findings

This study discovers three distinct subcultures that differ significantly in their attitudes and beliefs about entrepreneurship. These subcultures can neither be predicted from commonly used national measures of cultures, such as those of Hofstede, nor are they directly attributable to regional effects.

Research limitations/implications

The author calls into question the continuing use of national culture as a construct in explaining and predicting entrepreneurial activities, through discovery of subcultures at odds with national measures. Further research should be undertaken to assess the prevalence within Cameroonian society of the three widely different subcultures identified here.

Practical implications

This paper highlights the importance of incorporating subcultural variations in attitudes and beliefs (whether regional, tribal or other) in the development and implementation of public policies to affect national entrepreneurship.

Originality/value

The paper applies a novel methodology to qualitatively explore the subjective variations in the meaning and value of entrepreneurship in Cameroonian society, and to quantitatively develop a structure or typology to these variations.

Details

Journal of Enterprising Communities: People and Places in the Global Economy, vol. 12 no. 3
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1750-6204

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 14 March 2022

Randolph Nsor-Ambala

This study aims to explore the main features of managerial performance reporting (MPR) in Ghana and applied a national social-cultural framework to understanding the MPR practices.

Abstract

Purpose

This study aims to explore the main features of managerial performance reporting (MPR) in Ghana and applied a national social-cultural framework to understanding the MPR practices.

Design/methodology/approach

It is a qualitative study based on responses from mid-level managerial employees within the top companies in Ghana dubbed Ghana Club 100 (GC100). GC100 includes a balanced mix of companies across varied industry classifications and local and multinational companies (MNCs). This enriches the data and deviates from similar studies that have usually relied on data from multinational companies.

Findings

There is evidence that while MPR practices in Ghana do not significantly deviate from western approaches, the underlying reasons for such managerial practices and actions may defer on national socio-cultural lines. This study discusses how various cultural attributions explain the features and motivations for MPR practices in Ghana, including a difference in expectations about the purpose of an MPR.

Practical implications

MNCs must be guided by the findings of this study in their drive to inculcate standardised practices across organisations. It is also essential for MNCs to appreciate the more than usual reliance on verbal cues and symbols in interpreting the appropriate course of action. Regulators must consider systematic activities that reduce the tension and suspicion between them and business actors to improve information transparency. Whistleblowing schemes, while helpful, may not be effective because organisational agents within MPR practice consider themselves part of an “in-group” and manage their dissonance through categorisation, rationalisation and superficial attention to standards. Because of the excessive use of unwritten cues, auditors must consider visits to the client’s operational premises and other independent observation efforts vital to their evidence gathering process.

Originality/value

To the best of the author’s knowledge, this paper is among the first to evaluate MPR practices based on direct responses from “persons close to the MPR action” rather than the current overreliance on secondary data sources such as content analysis.

Details

Journal of Accounting & Organizational Change, vol. 19 no. 1
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1832-5912

Keywords

1 – 10 of 62