Crisis in the entrepreneurial self-efficacy and implementation intention of a Christian group

Purpose: This study aims to examine the moderating effect of the recent pandemic on the entrepreneurial self-efficacy and implementation intention nexus of a Christian group. Extending scholars’ belief that entrepreneurship manifests in individuals’ ability to search for viable products and services, plan for executing the business idea, marshal resources, manage people and demonstrate financial acumen, this inquiry tests these antecedents as predictors of implementation intention among members of a Christian community. Additionally, to assess the impact of external stressors on these associations, crisis perception is captured and examined as a moderating factor.

Design/methodology/approach: Purposive sampling of 133 members of the CHRISTE community is undertaken. The analysis takes a non-linear partial least squares structural equation modelling approach.

Findings: The results show that searching, planning, managing people and financial acumen all have a significant and positive relationship with implementation intention, except marshalling resources. Furthermore, respondents’ crisis perception had a mostly insignificant effect on the correlations, save for weakening the link between managing people and implementation intention. By and large, the path model explained 54% of the variance in implementation intention.

Originality/value: Theoretically, there are implications for advancing knowledge with evidence from religious communities that are scarcely reported in the corpus. Practically, decision makers in the Christian Curia interested in stimulating entrepreneurship among the faithful can reflect on these findings for the design of tailored programmes.