Search results

The aim of this paper is to explore how Arab Muslim women entrepreneurs construe success, their identity as successful and the influence of Islam on these construals in the country-specific context of Lebanon.

To achieve our aim, a qualitative interpretative methodology, drawing upon 25 in-depth, semi-structured interviews with Muslim women entrepreneurs was adopted.

Equipped with Islamic feminism, Arab women entrepreneurs experienced Islam as a malleable resource. Islam allowed them to construe success and their identity as successful at the juncture of their lived experiences as business owners, Muslims of good character and standing and Arab females. Ultimately, Islam unfolded as a dynamic religion that supports women's agency in a landscape dominated by deeply entrenched patriarchal societal and cultural norms and gender-based restrictions.

First, we contribute to research on the effect of Islam on entrepreneurship by demonstrating the influence of Islam on women's identity construction as successful and their construals of success. Second, we contribute to research on how entrepreneurs construe success beyond situating their construals of success in opposing camps of either objective or subjective success. Third, we contribute to research on identity construction and identity work by demonstrating how Muslim women entrepreneurs' identity as successful is construed at the intersection of their personal and social identities.

This paper explores the ways women entrepreneurs in male-dominated industries do identity work in order to gain legitimacy. In particular, we consider such identity work as a process being prompted by their direct environment, while demonstrating the gendered structural power relations in these women’s entrepreneurial contexts. We use a postfeminist lens to show how, in their quest for more legitimacy, they seem to be interpellated by postfeminist discourse.

We have used a narrative approach to show how women entrepreneurs in masculinised contexts do identity work to acquire legitimacy, and moreover use a postfeminist perspective to reflect on this identity work as to demonstrate how these Dutch businesswomen consider their agency in specific feminist terms within these men-dominated industry environments.

We present empirical data of ten women entrepreneurs in the Netherlands and how they discursively and subjectively make sense of their surrounding gendered contexts, in order to illustrate how local gender regimes and individual actions may conspire to constrain as well as stimulate these women’s entrepreneurship. By reflecting on three different ways of identity work through a postfeminist lens, we show how these women are interpellated by postfeminist discourses when trying to gain legitimacy.

The rather small sample does not allow us to generalise our findings to the whole population of women entrepreneurs in men-dominated contexts, yet this was not our goal anyway.

Such a reflection might help policy makers and such women themselves realise how, after all, gender inequality is still persistant in the entrepreneurship field and drawing on postfeminism does not necessarily help to support these women entrepreneurs' work–life balance.

Our findings underline the importance of a more gender inclusive entrepreneurship ecosystem, in which women entrepreneurs in both masculinised ánd feminised sectors are seen and treated as legitimate entrepreneurs.

Postfeminism, to our knowledge, has hardly been applied to women entrepreneurs' experiences in men-dominated environments, and is in itself still a rather new field in entrepreneurship studies.

This paper investigates the intersectionality of entrepreneurial masculinity within the context of venture accelerators. As such, it aims to shed light on how intersecting factors influence the construction and expression of masculinity among male entrepreneurs in venture accelerators.

This research is based on an in-depth analysis of four distinct accelerator cohort groups, employing a semi-structured interview approach. Interviewees were conducted with four accelerator managers and 52 male accelerator participants across four distinct accelerator cohort groups. Such a methodological choice is deemed instrumental in unravelling the nuanced dynamics within accelerator environments and their implications on hegemonic masculinity.

This study elucidates the nuanced ways in which men navigate the venture accelerator landscape. The findings revealed that the accelerator environment facilitated the reinforcement of traditional masculine behaviours. Whilst diversity was ostensibly valued, its acceptance decreased if it posed a challenge to male dominance or stereotypical masculine traits. Indeed, there was marginalisation of nontraditional expressions of masculinity, leading to a sense of “othering”.

By integrating intersectionality theory into the examination of masculine dynamics within venture accelerator contexts, this study expands current understanding of venture accelerator environments and their effects on both traditional and nontraditional forms of hegemonic masculinity. In particular, we highlight the impact of non-intersectional institutional norms on male entrepreneurs who deviate from traditional stereotypes. As such, we advance the understanding of venture accelerators by examining how they perpetuate and reinforce traditional masculine norms, even in environments that strive for diversity.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the identity work undertaken by female next generation to navigate (in)visibility in family businesses with male successors. To enhance understanding of gendered identity work in family businesses, the authors offer important insights into how female next generation use (in)visibility to establish legitimacy and exercise power and humility in partnership with male next generation in their family business.

This empirical qualitative paper draws upon in-depth interviews with 14 next generation female leaders.

This study offers a model to show how female next generation establish their legitimacy amongst male next generation in power via a careful balancing act between vying for visibility (trouble) and forgoing visibility (exclusion). These female next generation gained acceptance by endorsing their own leadership identity and exercising humility in partnership or by endorsing their brother's leadership identity and exercising power in partnership.

This study highlights the need for the incumbent generation to prepare successors, regardless of gender, via equal opportunities for business exposure and leadership preparation. This study also shows that vocalizing female-centric issues and highlighting hidden power imbalances should be led by the entire management team and not simply delegated to a “family woman” in the management team to spearhead.

This study advances understanding of gender dynamics and identity in the family business literature by identifying specific strategies utilized by female next generation to navigate (in)visibility in family businesses with male successors.

This study focuses on the lived experiences of early-stage women founders in a venture accelerator context. In particular, this work explores how gender shapes entrepreneurial self-efficacy (ESE) development in early-stage female founders in the venture accelerator context.

A qualitative, feminist-sensitive research methodology was utilized, with empirical evidence drawn from interviews with fifty one female founders and four accelerator managers located in four, competitive accelerator programs located in the Northeastern United States.

Study findings highlight how accelerators contribute to ESE development. Data also shows how the micro-processes related to masculinized discourse, culture, as well as mentorship and training, contribute to the “othering” and minimization of women during early-stage venture development.

This study contributes to the accelerator literature through a provision of insights into the ways a dominant, masculinized discourse and culture alienates female participants, making them feel “othered’, and resulting in a lack of fit with critical networking and funding opportunities. Second, this study builds on self-efficacy theory by applying a gender lens to the areas of mastery learning, vicarious learning, social persuasion and mental state, thus illuminating ways that the masculinization of these processes negatively disrupts the ESE development of female founders. Third, this study builds more broadly on the women's entrepreneurship literature by showing how masculine norms and culture ultimately impact upon the well-being of women in an early-stage entrepreneurship context.

This conceptual, multi-voiced paper aims to collectively explore and theorize family entrepreneuring, which is a research stream dedicated to investigating the emergence and becoming of entrepreneurial phenomena in business families and family firms.

Because of the novelty of this research stream, the authors asked 20 scholars in entrepreneurship and family business to reflect on topics, methods and issues that should be addressed to move this field forward.

Authors highlight key challenges and point to new research directions for understanding family entrepreneuring in relation to issues such as agency, processualism and context.

This study offers a compilation of multiple perspectives and leverage recent developments in the fields of entrepreneurship and family business to advance research on family entrepreneuring.

Drawing on indigenous theory of Ibn Khaldun, the rise and fall of States, this paper explores the agency of women entrepreneurs in family business in Bahrain and the underlying enablers in supporting and facilitating the exercise of this agency. This study attempts to move beyond the Western-centric studies to reflect and bring to light the unique institutional settings of the Gulf States.

The research builds on a rich qualitative single case of a family business based in Bahrain. The single case study methodology was motivated by the potential for generating rich contextual insights. Such an approach is particularly valuable to gain a more holistic and deeper understanding of the contextualized phenomenon and its complexity.

In this study the authors show how women entrepreneurs take two different paths to enter and become involved in the family business, the barriers they are subjected to and the active role they play in dismantling the challenges to the extent that they become the main mediators between the family business and central institutions in society.

By incorporating indigenous theory with Western family business concepts, the study extends existing understanding of women entrepreneurs in family business by underscoring the agency that women entrepreneurs have in “doing context” and the role that women play in strengthening common cause and destiny within the family and the business by building and drawing on different forms of loyalty.

There is a gap in understanding with regards to the discrimination and prejudice experienced by gay entrepreneurs. To address this, an intersectional perspective is adopted to facilitate a better understanding of how lesbian and gay entrepreneurs may experience heterosexism.

This qualitative study uses semi-structured interviews to explore the experiences of 14 lesbian and gay entrepreneurs as they navigate homophobia and heterosexism.

The study contributes novel insights to the field of entrepreneurship, extending the study of lesbian and gay entrepreneurs to include gender and a fine-grained analysis of the experience of heterosexism. Its inclusion of an intersectional perspective of the lesbian-female entrepreneur expands the emerging body of literature examining intersectional identities of minority entrepreneurs.

The authors provide a more nuanced understanding of the impact of heterosexism on LGBT+ entrepreneurial activities. This is facilitated by the authors' adoption of an intersectional perspective which shows how the different axes of identity influenced gender identity performance in relation to the model of perceived neutrality in LGBT+ entrepreneurship. The authors also make an original contribution to minority stress literature through the authors' exploration of one facet of minority entrepreneurship, namely the impact of heterosexism on LGBT+ entrepreneurial activities.

There is a significant gap in understanding with regards to the role of cultural context in family business research. This paper aims to address this by exploring the critical and pervasive influence of culture in shaping the entrepreneurial behaviours of family businesses based in Saudi Arabia.

The authors adopt a qualitative interpretive case study approach, which draws upon interviews with the incumbents and successors of ten Saudi Arabian family firms.

The authors’ empirical evidence reveals the importance of family ties and culture on the entrepreneurial behaviour of family firms in general, and the influence of “Islamic capital” on the intergenerational transfer of family legacy in particular.

The authors provide critical insights on how Islamic capital motivates Saudi family firms to maintain harmony, avoid disputes and create a legacy for future generations by engaging in entrepreneurial behaviours.

Research to date has identified incubator units as an effective mechanism for supporting the growth and development of small entrepreneurial firms. Advantages are gained not only from the provision of appropriate facilities and external managerial expertise on site, but also from the opportunity to develop entrepreneurial networks facilitated by the spatial proximity of incubator firms. Therefore, the purpose of this paper is to investigate the impact of context, in other words the degree to which the networking opportunities provided by the university incubator support the small firm in its pursuit of sustainability and growth.

Empirical evidence is presented from six in‐depth, longitudinal case studies of entrepreneurial firms based within a university incubator located within the United Kingdom. The interviews were tape‐recorded and transcribed and then analysed through the NUD*IST software package.

The current research highlights the specific role of the university context in networking activities, and in particular, the development of particular types of networks, namely, social and business. Having identified the role of the university in facilitating such networks, future research needs to consider how proximity and tacit knowledge establishes the trust which underpins successful networking. However, this paper has also revealed some disadvantages of university incubator placement worthy of further consideration and research, namely, how proximity between firms is seen as a threat to intellectual property rights and also, how the image of the academic might be seen as a disadvantage within the business community.

This paper adds to existing literature through an exploration of the manner in which firm proximity within a university incubator impacts upon networking opportunities for new entrepreneurial firms.