Interview by Dustin Moody
Dr. Sean Dwyer’s journey from aspiring physician to assistant professor of entrepreneurship at the University of Oklahoma is shaped by a deep sense of purpose and desire to make a positive difference in the world. Sean is focused on both raising up the next generation of purpose-driven business leaders in the classroom and engaging in leading academic research in entrepreneurship on faith and entrepreneurship. His work is shedding light on how entrepreneurs can integrate these personally meaningful aspects of their lives into their work and the related effects doing so can have on human flourishing.
The Center for L.I.F.E. team sat down with Sean to talk about his career path, the role of faith in fostering entrepreneurial persistence, and what it means for entrepreneurs to lead with integrity in uncertain times.
Q: How did you first get interested in the intersection of faith and entrepreneurship?
It really started during college at Tulane University. I originally planned to go into medicine because I wanted to make a difference in the world. But everything changed when I heard Blake Mycoskie of TOMS Shoes talk about his “buy one give one” business model. I realized business didn’t have to be all about making profits for self-oriented reasons but could be a platform for making a purpose-driven impact in the world.
At the time, I was thinking about launching a faith-based clothing brand that would also use a one-for-one model to support social causes that mattered most to me. That vision led me to switch majors from pre-med to finance and pursue a master’s in accounting to understand the language of business to later help me with my entrepreneurial pursuits. During my time at Tulane, I entered a business plan competition, received initial funding, and after a few years of working as a CPA in the business world, I eventually launched a company with my two brothers that partnered with Samaritan’s Purse to make an impact in the lives of those in need.
Q: You later transitioned from launching a business to researching entrepreneurship. What sparked that shift?
It’s an interesting story! At a trade show for my clothing line in Nashville in 2018, I met Laura Smith, the wife of an entrepreneurship professor who, after talking with me, recommended I should meet her husband. Her husband was Dr. Brett Smith, a professor of entrepreneurship at the University of Miami Ohio. I told Brett about my interest in bridging entrepreneurship with purpose, and he explained how he is engaged in this type of work through his research at the intersection of faith and entrepreneurship. Brett encouraged me to consider pursuing a PhD in entrepreneurship, which I had never considered before. This conversation planted a seed in me of a potential career path down the road.
The following year, I took a hiatus from the business world to join a nonprofit serving those in need in Southeast Asia. Here, I saw firsthand how entrepreneurship could not only impact the lives of others but also the lives of entrepreneurs – lifting those in need out of poverty and providing them with a platform to impact their communities. Through these observations and experiences, I decided I wanted to understand how entrepreneurship could be used as a tool to help people rise out of poverty and impact their communities. After my time volunteering, I reached back out to Brett, and he helped me navigate the practical steps of applying to a PhD program. I enrolled in Baylor University’s Ph.D. in Entrepreneurship program, and during my studies, Brett encouraged me to take the doctoral seminar offered by the Center for L.I.F.E. I was so excited to learn from Brett and to be around other researchers such as Melissa Cardon and David Townsend that were also interested in understanding this phenomena of faith and entrepreneurship.
I’m now working on exciting research projects at the intersection of faith, purpose, and resilience.
Q: Your work explores how faith shapes entrepreneurial persistence. Can you share some findings?
I recently published a paper on what we call “faith-driven persistence,” along with Dr. Boris Nikolaev, Dr. Steve Bradley, and Dr. Mitchell Neubert.” We found that religious faith can significantly shape how and why entrepreneurs persist toward their goals despite the challenges they face. Perhaps, one of the most interesting findings was that it’s not the religious affiliation of the entrepreneur (e.g., Christian, Muslim, etc.) that matters in shaping this persistence effect but rather the actual “faith-driven” practice of turning to God or a higher power for support.
We found evidence that religious faith drives a willingness for entrepreneurs to persist toward their goals through the effect of faith on three psychological mechanisms:
- Purpose in life – Faith can help entrepreneurs see their work as part of God’s larger plan for their lives or as part of a divine calling, which, in turn, drives persistence.
- Environmental mastery – Faith can enhance belief in an entrepreneur’s ability to shape their environment in positive ways through beliefs in God working with them as partners in these efforts.
- Personal growth – Faith can reframe challenges as God-given opportunities for spiritual and personal growth, buffering entrepreneurs from what might otherwise threaten persistence toward their goals.
These mechanisms help entrepreneurs persevere through uncertainty and hardship in meaningful ways.
Q: You’ve mentioned “faith-driven tunnel vision” as a potential risk. Can you unpack that?
Sure! While faith can certainly fuel persistence, it can also create blind spots. I’ve written about this in the context of the “fake it till you make it” culture in entrepreneurship. Entrepreneurs often need to pitch a bold vision of the future to generate stakeholder support, even if they’re unsure how they’ll eventually get there. In certain cases, faith can strengthen confidence in that vision, sometimes to the point of overconfidence in the potential of a business which can lead to this “faith-driven tunnel vision” effect.
If that faith-driven vision becomes overly inflexible, entrepreneurs may ignore warning signs, dismiss wise counsel, or avoid pivoting when they should. So while faith is a powerful driver, it must be paired with accountability, humility, and honesty to avoid “faith-driven tunnel vision”.
Q: What’s your advice to entrepreneurs navigating that tension?
I would recommend entrepreneurs build strong relationships with mentors who entrepreneurs trust to share wisdom and point out their blind spots. Whether it’s an investor, advisor, or team member, having people who can question and challenge your assumptions is crucial. In this respect, humility is also critical. No matter how confident one might be, wisdom is often found amongst many counselors.
There’s also a great concept from the book Rocket Fuel about visionary and integrator roles. Visionaries push forward big ideas, and integrators keep things grounded in reality. This back and forth dynamic is vital. While entrepreneurs need to dream big, they need people around them who will not only help them deliver on what they promise but intervene with wisdom on when to pivot or even stop pursuing a certain objective when necessary.
Q: What research are you excited about right now?
I’m continuing to study purpose-driven entrepreneurship—how everyday business owners, not just nonprofit leaders, can make a positive difference in the world. I’m also developing a book on purpose and conducting exciting research projects on faith and purpose in entrepreneurship in developing world contexts. I am especially interested in understanding how faith can reshape how entrepreneurs perceive seemingly ordinary businesses as something extraordinary. I have a lot of exciting work in the pipeline and look forward to expanding my research in this field with the incredible network of scholars who are also interested in this topic.
Q: What’s your hope for the impact of your work?
My hope is that entrepreneurs would see that running a for-profit business is not inherently a lesser calling than engaging in nonprofit or charitable types of work. While you can certainly start a nonprofit to make a difference, you can also do so through a seemingly ordinary for-profit business. Your restaurant, your beauty salon, your software startup—these can all be platforms for making a purpose-driven impact in the world. For those driven by faith, this can uniquely shape not just why you work, but how you lead, serve, and even persist in entrepreneurship.
Q: Any reflections on the work of the Center for L.I.F.E. and its contribution to this conversation?
The Center for L.I.F.E. is pioneering research that opens up previously unexplored intersections of faith and entrepreneurship. It’s helping scholars see how faith-driven motivation can influence a wide range of outcomes in entrepreneurship. For those seeking to engage in top-tier research, the intersection of religion and entrepreneurship provides an important and interesting domain for future research studies.
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To connect with Dr. Dwyer and follow us research, follow him on LinkedIn. To apply for the upcoming PhD seminar at the Academy of Management annual conference, you can find more information on the registration page.
