Abstract
Purpose – Embeddedness has gained prominence in entrepreneurship studies. However, the notion that the
embeddedness metaphor relates to “market” structures prevails in studies in the area. Entrepreneurship
scholars still know little about whether entrepreneurs are eventually embedded in other structures whose
relationships go beyond the restricted dimension of the interested actor’s assumption. This study aims to
propose investigating the social structures in which a specific type of entrepreneurship, the religious one, is
embedded.
Design/methodology/approach – The research was qualitative, using interviews as an evidence
collection instrument. A total of 17 entrepreneur-pastors responsible for business churches in Brazil and eight
parishioners took part in the study.
Findings – Religious entrepreneurs are embedded in market structures, corroborating a perspective that
associates embeddedness with the utilitarian notion. At the same time, entrepreneurs are embedded in two
other social structures: reciprocity and redistribution.
Practical implications – This article emphasizes the relevance of going beyond the predominant
perspective associated with the utilitarian and rationalized understanding of embeddedness in relationship
networks.
Originality/value – This study makes essential contributions. Initially, it attests to the utilitarian
perspective of Granovetter’s embeddedness while suggesting incorporating two other dimensions into the
metaphor. By highlighting this, this article stresses the need to reinterpret the metaphor of embeddedness and
how entrepreneurship scholars use it. Further, by emphasizing the need to consider embeddedness in
networks beyond its still utilitarian perspective, this paper highlights unexplored opportunities for
entrepreneurship scholars
