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What Hinders Me from Moving Ahead? Gender Identity’s Impact on Women’s Entrepreneurial Intention

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Abstract

Research on female innovation-driven entrepreneurialism demonstrates that the number of start-ups by women worldwide still lags that of their male counterparts. This is in part due to women’s lower level of entrepreneurial self-efficacy which impacts negatively their entrepreneurial intention. This study uses the concept of multiple identities seen from a psychodynamic perspective, to explore theoretically how female entrepreneurs’ identity affects their entrepreneurial self-efficacy. First, I look into female entrepreneurs’ identity as part of their multiple identities situated within their self-concept. Second, I use Bourdieu’s androgenic cosmology to look into gender identity’s impact on women’s entrepreneurial identity and its potential impact on women entrepreneurs’ self-efficacy and their intention to start a business. Finally, I offer the adoption of “metaxu” as an ontological concept on how women entrepreneurs can reconcile their multiple identities and bring their best at work.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    Total Entrepreneurial Activity (TEA) represents the % of the adult working-age population (18–64) who are either nascent or new entrepreneurs

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  1. Navigating Transformation, Female Entrepreneurship Consultancy, Muellheim, Germany

    Eleftheria Egel

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  1. Woodbury University, Burbank, CA, USA

    Joan Marques

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Egel, E. (2021). What Hinders Me from Moving Ahead? Gender Identity’s Impact on Women’s Entrepreneurial Intention. In: Marques, J. (eds) Exploring Gender at Work. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-64319-5_13

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