A Bourdieuan Analysis of Qualitative Authorship in Entrepreneurship Scholarship

Abstract

Empirically, this study builds on responses from leading qualitative entrepreneurship scholars. We carry out a Bourdieuan analysis of the field of entrepreneurship scholarship—particularly heterodox qualitative writing—and the way that scholars learn to play this game (habitus). It discusses unchallenged assumptions (doxa), commitment to shared stakes (illusio), the practice to achieve these stakes (practice), and the struggle for glories and riches (capital). By deploying Bourdieu's frame, we have been able to expose key processes, structures, and relationships within qualitative entrepreneurship authorship. These offer four types of practical outcomes: guidance for good practice; insights into emotional aspects of authorship; warnings of potentially dysfunctional practices; and a celebration of our successes.

Navigating Gaza’s conflict through women’s entrepreneurship

“…As the study explored the experiences of women entrepreneurs in the under researched conflict context of Gaza, we adopted the interpretivist approach to describe and interpret the experiences of women entrepreneurs from their own perspectives. Guided by this approach, a qualitative feminist research methodology was an effective methodological approach as it allows for exploring women's entrepreneurial activities in depth (Drakopoulou-Dodd et al 2014;Dana and Dana, 2005). As barriers are an important parameter in this study, the qualitative approach is consistent with Doern's (2009) recommendations on how barriers in entrepreneurial activities are investigated in transitional environments.…”

Fostering productive entrepreneurship in post-conflict economies: the importance of institutional alignment

“…The methods adopted in this study were qualitative, which are appropriate as they capture context richness and diversity (Dana and Dana, 2009;Hlady-Rispal and JouisonLaffitte, 2014) and are useful in understanding participants' points of view and explore behaviour, attitudes, needs and aspirations by examining actions, intentions and interactions (Arshed et al, 2014;Dana and Dumez, 2015). Moreover, although entrepreneurship research has been dominated by quantitative approaches, there is growing body of qualitative research that provides deep insights into the entrepreneur and the entrepreneurial environment (Hindle, 2004;Dana and Dana, 2005;Drakopoulou-Dodd et al, 2014). Qualitative approaches seek to examine players or agents as they act (Dana and Dumez, 2015) and thus allows the context of entrepreneurial activity to be examined, enabling researchers to move away from the 'dead end' of studying entrepreneurs simply as individuals by considering the environment in which they operate (Dana and Dana, 2005).…”

Enacting Entrepreneurship and Leadership: A Longitudinal Exploration of Gendered Identity Work

“…The interpretive orientation of the phenomenological perspective has also been argued to provide great potential to substantiate understanding of central abstracts (Cope ; Steyaert ) (in this instance, entrepreneurial identity and entrepreneurial leadership), as have post‐positivist approaches to entrepreneurship scholarship (Drakopoulou‐Dodd et al. ; Karatas‐Ozkan et al. ).…”