Evolving as an entrepreneur: a life story approach to studying Indian women entrepreneurs

Abstract

PurposeThe purpose of this article is to understand how women develop entrepreneurship as a career identity through women's various life stages. Using a life story approach, the authors study the formation of Indian businesswomen's entrepreneurial identity in businesswomen's unique socio-cultural context.Design/methodology/approachThe study drew upon 15 semi-structured interviews with practicing women entrepreneurs using a qualitative methodology. Gioia methodology was used to systematically analyze the data for theory building.FindingsThe narratives of the Indian women entrepreneurs indicate that Indian women's entrepreneurial identity was a developmental process influenced by various episodes in different life stages-childhood, adolescence, marriage and motherhood. Life episodes influenced the creation and enactment of this entrepreneurial identity, which led to the emergence of entrepreneurship as a career choice.Research limitations/implicationsThe study's retrospective design may have raised concerns involving memory recall. The open-ended questions gave the participants the freedom to recount the life episodes that influenced the participants the most and may have partly mitigated this concern.Originality/valuePrior studies have focused on specific life stages of women entrepreneurs, without taking a holistic life-story view, thereby missing out on how career identity is formed as a result of life episodes. Using the developmental psychology approach, the authors provide a nuanced and holistic lens to understanding women's entrepreneurship.

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“…This aligns with the view that the interplay between work and nonwork is bounded due to finite time and resources (Demerouti and Bakker, 2023). Moreover, national governments may wish to consider the pros and cons of introducing Universal Basic Income (Perkins et al, 2022) or other support measures, given the value of entrepreneurial pursuits to the economy in India (Khattar and Agarwal, 2023).…”

“…Moreover, national governments may wish to consider the pros and cons of introducing Universal Basic Income (Perkins et al. , 2022) or other support measures, given the value of entrepreneurial pursuits to the economy in India (Khattar and Agarwal, 2023).…”

“…For women, this theme was a significant driver for becoming a digital micro-entrepreneur and continuing to be one. However, for men, it was not a theme they spoke about, perhaps due to the disproportionate amount of household and carer responsibilities that fall on women in India (Khattar and Agarwal, 2023). Here are two such participant excerpts, beginning with Priyanka:My journey into the world of content creation began from necessity.…”

“…Micro-entrepreneurs are a distinct sub-group of entrepreneurs, characterised by their service of niche markets, self- or crowd-funding, and an ability to pivot due to their small size and high degree of autonomy. We focus our study on digital micro-entrepreneurs in India since it offers an opportunity to acquire qualitative empirical insights from a collectivist society and a non-western context (Khattar and Agarwal, 2023). Additionally, the same authors observe how entrepreneurship has represented a critical dimension of economic growth, job creation, and innovation in India over the last 25 years.…”

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“…For instance, Au et al (2021) found that government support in Malaysia increased the likelihood of women entering and staying in an entrepreneurship path. Khattar and Agarwal (2023) also found that for women in India, "entrepreneurial identity was a developmental process influenced by various episodes in different life stages-childhood, adolescence, marriage and motherhood" (p. 277). This perhaps also explains some of the conflicting findings in the literature around the role of gender as a moderator between different variables across various Encouraging students to become entrepreneurs countries and regions.…”