Integrating entrepreneurial and spiritual identities under uncertainty

This empirical study begins to explore the complex connections between entrepreneurs, spirituality and uncertainty, grounded in the theoretical, even existential, relationships among these elements. Specifically, our contribution consists of a novel analysis and discussion of the interplay between entrepreneurial and spiritual personal identities in uncertain contexts. We consider three related research questions: Does spirituality moderate the relationship between entrepreneurship and comfort under decision uncertainty? Does it in terms of making specific economic choices under uncertainty? And, reciprocally, does entrepreneurship moderate the relationship between spirituality and dealing with uncertainty? Our analysis draws upon survey data of non-naïve respondents, including entrepreneurs. We find that two separate personal identities interact in very different and significant ways even within same context. We also find that identity integration ‘over feelings’ differ from those ‘over decisions’ in the same context, contributing to the affect-rationality debate in entrepreneurial cognition.