The Identity of Entrepreneurs: Providing Conceptual Clarity and Future Directions

Abstract

The identity of entrepreneurs (IoE) has become a popular concept in entrepreneurship research, for example, to explain entrepreneurial behavior. Yet, despite growing interest in this topic, theoretical and terminological inconsistencies have hampered the development of a coherent understanding of the identity of entrepreneurs. I conduct a systematic literature review to provide an overview of different theoretical perspectives in IoE research and suggest consistent use of terminology and operationalizations. Further, I propose a framework to investigate the dynamic nature and multi‐level influences of the identity of entrepreneurs, and outline meaningful avenues for future research to unravel when, how, and with what consequences identity may become relevant in new venture creation.

Exploring founder identity tension, resolution, and venture pursuit

“…Existing research has conceptualized various founder identities and highlighted preferences for different entrepreneurial behaviors. However, this work says little about how these identities coevolve during the venture process (O'Neil et al, 2020;Wagenschwanz, 2021). In this article, we align with studies that seek to understand how founder identity is shaped in an ongoing process and adopt an identity work perspective (Anderson et al, 2019;Demetry, 2017;Down & Reveley, 2004).…”

“…However, this process approach has not yet fully outlined how founder identity and venture trajectory unfold. We still lack nuance into why founders work on their identities differently and how this leads to different entrepreneurial behaviors (Leitch & Harrison, 2016;Wagenschwanz, 2021). To address this gap, we ask: When and how do creative venture founders experience and resolve identity tension?…”

My future entrepreneurial self: antecedents of entrepreneurial identity aspiration

“…In this respect, our quantitative study adds to largely conceptual and qualitative efforts of identity theory in entrepreneurship (Chen et al, 2021;Mmbaga et al, 2020;Wagenschwanz, 2020). Second, we present an alternative theoretical foundation for researching students' motivation to become entrepreneurial.…”

“…Being an entrepreneur has been connected to different aspects such as personality structure, attitudes, beliefs or practices (Murnieks et al, 2014(Murnieks et al, , 2019Seibert et al, 2020;Wagenschwanz, 2020). To answer what antecedents are crucial to strengthening the individual desire to become an entrepreneur in the future, we derive hypotheses based on aspects considered integral to an entrepreneur's role.…”

A theory-driven model of the spin-off creation process: A Social Information Processing perspective

“…Furthermore, we needed to understand how each construct has been studied in academic entrepreneurship without any limitation related to the period; this source was the more suitable because it covers the broadest period compared to the other databases (Falagas, Pitsouni, Malietzis & Pappas, 2008). It has to be mentioned that this database is widely used for Systematic Literature Review in entrepreneurship (Miranda, Chamorro & Rubio, 2018;Skute, 2019;Stephan, 2017;Wagenschwanz, 2020).…”