Rehearsing entrepreneurship: Identity formation in the transition to entrepreneurship after an emotional job loss
International Journal of Entrepreneurial Behavior & Research
ISSN: 1355-2554
Article publication date: 27 June 2022
Issue publication date: 28 October 2022
Abstract
Purpose
This paper investigates how a new entrepreneurial identity forms in conjunction with prior work-related identities during sponsored self-employment after an emotional job loss.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors empirically examine why some dismissed employees failed and others succeeded in transitioning from a wage-earner career via corporate sponsorship to a career as an entrepreneur, investigating how those employees meaningfully constructed (or did not) an entrepreneurial identity.
Findings
The authors' findings show that the simultaneous preservation of central attributes of prior work-related identities and the engenderment of new entrepreneurial attributes support the formation of an entrepreneurial identity and that a liminal state, in which people practice entrepreneurship at work, may facilitate identity transition.
Originality/value
This paper demonstrates that the initial entrepreneurial endeavor is based on prior work-related identity and identity congruence between prior work-related identities and a projected entrepreneurial identity is of great importance for the identity transition. However, the authors also show that incongruence may in some cases turn into congruence if entrepreneurs are given the opportunity to experiment with provisional entrepreneurial selves in a risk-free environment (so-called liminal states).
Keywords
Acknowledgements
The authors thank Nokia for providing access to empirical data. The authors are also grateful to Alex Haslam and Reed E. Nelson for the constructive feedback in earlier versions of this paper. The authors highly appreciate the contribution received from Steffen Korsgaard during data collection. Finally, the authors wish to acknowledge Christina Stoltenberg Lahm for providing highly capable research assistance.
Citation
Burcharth, A., Smith, P. and Frederiksen, L. (2022), "Rehearsing entrepreneurship: Identity formation in the transition to entrepreneurship after an emotional job loss", International Journal of Entrepreneurial Behavior & Research, Vol. 28 No. 7, pp. 1653-1678. https://doi.org/10.1108/IJEBR-09-2021-0757
Publisher
:Emerald Publishing Limited
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