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This paper is part of a continuing effort to investigate constraining and enabling effects of institutional logics on entrepreneurship in the European space sector. The goal is mapping rules, regulations, ideas and cultural standards hindering or stimulating entrepreneurship in ESA Member States in general, and in particular on the subject of this paper, the Czech Republic. Interviews with various Czech space actors were conducted, analyzed and related to archival data on the Czech space sector. On an agency level, two logics are identified, perceived as being either supporting or constraining by entrepreneurs and small companies: the country cooperation logic and the European institution logic. On a national level, the new sector logic, the prime contractor and a product logic are identified as driving and constraining forces for Czech entrepreneurs. The new sector logic entails challenges of entrepreneurs and SMEs arising from new or inadequate regulation, conservative government funding decisions and a misalignment of national priorities for space activities with the expectations of Czech space actors. The prime contractor logic encompasses entrepreneurial activities concerning building, growing and changing relations to traditional, large ESA contractors that govern entrepreneurial decisions on a national level. The product logic describes the constraints and drivers imposed on entrepreneurs by the quality requirements of space products, as well as the competition of new products with ESA quality standards.

This study builds a grounded model of how careers shape entrepreneurs’ preferences for causal and effectual decision logics when starting new ventures. Using both verbal protocol analysis and interviews, we adopt a qualitative research approach to induct career management practices germane to entrepreneurial decision making. Based on our empirical findings, we develop a model conceptualizing how configurations of career management practices, reflecting different emphases on career planning and career investment, are linked to entrepreneurial decision making through the imprint that they leave on one’s view of the future, generating a tendency toward predictive and/or creative control. These findings extend effectuation theorizing by reformulating one of its most pervasive assumptions and showing how careers produce distinct pathways to entrepreneurial thinking, even prior to entrepreneurial entry.

Religious beliefs affect the economic behavior of individuals. The aim of this study is to investigate the relation between religious beliefs and entrepreneurship. Empirical evidence that entrepreneurship rates differ among religions suggests that religious beliefs influence the pursuit of entrepreneurship. However, how and which specific religious beliefs play a role in this relationship remains unknown. Therefore, we study the relation between two key religious beliefs and entrepreneurship within one specific branch of Christianity, namely, Protestantism. Using a unique sample of 756 Christian protestant entrepreneurs and employees from the Netherlands, we show that protestant entrepreneurs have a stronger belief than comparable protestant employees that their work is a calling from God and that protestant entrepreneurs are more likely to perceive a duty to add value to society through their occupational work. These results indicate that research on the relation between religion and entrepreneurship is instrumental in explaining the engagement of people in entrepreneurship.