Authors: Ali Aslan Gümüsay (LMU)

Abstract: This study explores the effects of institutional adversity due to religious discrimination on entrepreneurs and the coping strategies used to achieve emancipatory outcomes. Through a qualitative research design involving 101 Muslim entrepreneurs in India, we identify four coping strategies that draw on a mixture of religious and market logics: shielding, sheltering, smoothing, and shifting. Entrepreneurs create a shield by being faith-led and seeking refuge; shelter themselves through their religious community, disguising their identity, and keeping a low profile; smooth pressures through dialogue and engagement; and shift their business via differentiation and refocusing. While sheltering and smoothing emancipate from institutional adversity, shielding and shifting emancipate towards venture change.

Host: Melanie Richards