IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/taf/entreg/v28y2016i3-4p177-190.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Identity, identity formation and identity work in entrepreneurship: conceptual developments and empirical applications

Author

Listed:
  • Claire M. Leitch
  • Richard T. Harrison

Abstract

This paper reviews the current status of research into entrepreneurial identity. Identities – individual and organizational – can potentially serve as powerful elements that both drive and are shaped by entrepreneurial actions. Identity is, of course, a complex construct with multidisciplinary roots and consequentially a range of conceptual meanings and theoretical roles associated with it. Building on a framework for identifying schools of thought in the social sciences, we highlight the need for more critical studies of entrepreneurial identity that recognize, first, that entrepreneurial identity is a dynamic and fluid rather than (relatively) fixed and unchanging feature, and second, that research attention should shift from the analysis of identity per se (the identity-as-entity position) to the identity work processes through which entrepreneurial identities are shaped and formed (the identity-as-process position). Following a summary of the key contributions of the five papers included in this Special Issue, we conclude with some pointers for future research.

Suggested Citation

  • Claire M. Leitch & Richard T. Harrison, 2016. "Identity, identity formation and identity work in entrepreneurship: conceptual developments and empirical applications," Entrepreneurship & Regional Development, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 28(3-4), pages 177-190, March.
    • Handle: RePEc:taf:entreg:v:28:y:2016:i:3-4:p:177-190
    DOI: 10.1080/08985626.2016.1155740
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1080/08985626.2016.1155740
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1080/08985626.2016.1155740?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Oliver Falck & Stephan Heblich & Elke Lüdemann, 2009. "Identity and Entrepreneurship," CESifo Working Paper Series 2661, CESifo.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Ödül Bozkurt & Mirela Xheneti & Vicky, 2022. "On the Front Line of the Circular Economy: The Entrepreneurial, Identity and Institutional Work of a Female Entrepreneur towards the Circular Transition," Work, Employment & Society, British Sociological Association, vol. 36(1), pages 156-166, February.
    2. Weihui Mei & Lorraine Pe Symaco, 2022. "Students’ Entrepreneurial Identity Construction: Role and Social Identity Influences," SAGE Open, , vol. 12(2), pages 21582440221, April.
    3. Eric Boyd, D. & Keith Harrison, C. & McInerny, Haley, 2021. "Transitioning from athlete to entrepreneur: An entrepreneurial identity perspective," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 136(C), pages 479-487.
    4. Jackson Musona & Kaisu Puumalainen & Helena Sjögrén & Anna Vuorio, 2021. "Sustainable Entrepreneurship at the Bottom of the Pyramid: An Identity-Based Perspective," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(2), pages 1-37, January.
    5. Pankaj C. Patel, 2022. "Recentralization and self‐employment: A quasi‐natural experiment in Switzerland," Managerial and Decision Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 43(5), pages 1379-1402, July.
    6. Maria Elo, . "International venturing and investment: global citizens and golden visas," UNCTAD Transnational Corporations Journal, United Nations Conference on Trade and Development.
    7. Thang V. Nguyen & Lan T. Nguyen & Hieu H. Nguyen, 2018. "Fostering Academic Entrepreneurship: A Qualitative Study Of Invention Commercialization In Vietnam," Journal of Developmental Entrepreneurship (JDE), World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd., vol. 23(04), pages 1-23, December.
    8. Yasuo Ohe, 2018. "Educational tourism in agriculture and identity of farm successors," Tourism Economics, , vol. 24(2), pages 167-184, March.
    9. Carlos Poblete & Felipe Rifo & Joana Huaman, 2021. "The Role of Circular Business Modeling in the Entrepreneurial Identity-Construction Process," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(23), pages 1-25, December.
    10. Gregori, Patrick & Holzmann, Patrick & Wdowiak, Malgorzata A., 2021. "For the sake of nature: Identity work and meaningful experiences in environmental entrepreneurship," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 122(C), pages 488-501.
    11. Truong, Anh Tran Tram, 2023. "Entrepreneurial identity play through cross-cultural experience: Insights from returnees," Journal of Business Venturing Insights, Elsevier, vol. 20(C).
    12. Evangelia Koutsogianni & Dimitrios Stavroulakis & Alexandros Sahinidis & Miltiadis Chalikias, 2021. "Liquid Modernity as an Analytical Framework: A Study of the Entrepreneurial Intention- Behavior Divergence," International Journal of Economics & Business Administration (IJEBA), International Journal of Economics & Business Administration (IJEBA), vol. 0(4), pages 194-211.
    13. Castelló, Itziar & Barberá-Tomás, David & Vaara, Eero, 2023. "Moving on: Narrative identity reconstruction after entrepreneurial failure," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 38(4).
    14. Satu Korhonen & Tanja Leppäaho, 2019. "Well-trodden highways and roads less traveled: Entrepreneurial-oriented behavior and identity construction in international entrepreneurship narratives [Las sendas más trotadas y las rutas menos ex," Journal of International Entrepreneurship, Springer, vol. 17(3), pages 355-388, September.
    15. Ewing, Douglas R. & Meyer, Jeffrey & Kern, Kirk D., 2024. "Slowed by commitment and hastened by obstacles: Exploring patterns of entrepreneur role exit in the EPOP dataset," Journal of Business Venturing Insights, Elsevier, vol. 21(C).

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Michael Stuetzer & Martin Obschonka & Eva Schmitt-Rodermund, 2013. "Balanced skills among nascent entrepreneurs," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 41(1), pages 93-114, June.
    2. Oliver Falck & Robert Gold & Stephan Heblich, 2017. "Lifting the iron curtain: school-age education and entrepreneurial intentions," Journal of Economic Geography, Oxford University Press, vol. 17(5), pages 1111-1148.
    3. Michael Funke & Marc Gronwald, 2009. "A Convex Hull Approach to Counterfactual Analysis of Trade Openness and Growth," Quantitative Macroeconomics Working Papers 20906, Hamburg University, Department of Economics.
    4. Larsson, Johan P. & Wennberg, Karl & Wiklund, Johan & Wright, Mike, 2017. "Location choices of graduate entrepreneurs," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 46(8), pages 1490-1504.
    5. Mirjam van Praag, 2009. "Who values the status of the entrepreneur?," Jena Economics Research Papers 2009-045, Friedrich-Schiller-University Jena.
    6. B. Urban & J. Chantson, 2019. "Academic entrepreneurship in South Africa: testing for entrepreneurial intentions," The Journal of Technology Transfer, Springer, vol. 44(3), pages 948-980, June.
    7. Robert Gold & Oliver Falck & Stephan Heblich, 2011. "The Long Wind of Change. Educational Impacts on Entrepreneurial Intentions," ERSA conference papers ersa11p999, European Regional Science Association.
    8. Md. Mazharul Islam & Abla Abdul Hameed Bokhari & Turki Shjaan Abalala, 2018. "Perceptions to Start up Business as a Career Choice among Saudi Female Higher Education Students," Societies, MDPI, vol. 8(2), pages 1-22, May.
    9. Nguyen Thi Thu Phuong & Laure Pasquier-Doumer, 2018. "The role of Social Networks on Household Business Performance in Vietnam: A qualitative assessment," Working Papers DT/2018/13, DIAL (Développement, Institutions et Mondialisation).
    10. Bosma, Niels & Hessels, Jolanda & Schutjens, Veronique & Praag, Mirjam Van & Verheul, Ingrid, 2012. "Entrepreneurship and role models," Journal of Economic Psychology, Elsevier, vol. 33(2), pages 410-424.
    11. Muhammad Amsal Sahban & Subramaniam Sri Ramalu & Ruswiati Syahputra, 2016. "The Influence of Social Support on Entrepreneurial Inclination among Business Students in Indonesia," Information Management and Business Review, AMH International, vol. 8(3), pages 32-46.
    12. Elke Lüdemann, 2011. "Schooling and the Formation of Cognitive and Non-cognitive Outcomes," ifo Beiträge zur Wirtschaftsforschung, ifo Institute - Leibniz Institute for Economic Research at the University of Munich, number 39.
    13. Robert Gold & Oliver Falck & Stephan Heblich, 2011. "Entrepreneurship Education: The Role of Universities," ERSA conference papers ersa10p1202, European Regional Science Association.
    14. Sanna Joensuu-Salo & Anmari Viljamaa & Elina Varamäki, 2021. "Understanding Business Takeover Intentions—The Role of Theory of Planned Behavior and Entrepreneurship Competence," Administrative Sciences, MDPI, vol. 11(3), pages 1-17, June.
    15. Olav Sorenson, 2018. "Social networks and the geography of entrepreneurship," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 51(3), pages 527-537, October.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:taf:entreg:v:28:y:2016:i:3-4:p:177-190. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Chris Longhurst (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.tandfonline.com/TEPN20 .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.