Unexpected entrepreneurs: the identity work of entrepreneurs with disabilities. Issue 9 (19th October 2020)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Jammaers, Eline; Zanoni, Patrizia
• Is Part Of: Entrepreneurship and regional development. Volume 32:Issue 9/10(2020)
• Page Start: 879
• Page End: 898
• Publication Date: 2020-10-19
• Subjects: Minority entrepreneurship -- disability -- identity work -- identity positioning -- discourse; Industrial promotion -- Periodicals; Entrepreneurship -- Periodicals; Regional planning -- Periodicals; 338.04
• DOI: 10.1080/08985626.2020.1842913
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0898-5626

Abstract

ABSTRACT: Drawing on in-depth interviews, this study investigates how entrepreneurs with disabilities (EWDs) position themselves, in their identity work, vis-à-vis dominant, normative representations of the entrepreneur that tend to exclude them. Addressing the current neglect in how EWDs deal with such discursive barriers, we document four identity positions which they deploy, in various combinations, to construct an identity as an entrepreneur. Our findings show that outward positions, by which EWDs compare their own self with (non)-entrepreneurial (able-bodied) others and emphasize similarity and uniqueness, reproduce normative representations of the entrepreneur. Inward positions, by which EWDs engage in inner conversations contrasting their current self with older, aspirational or impossible selves, on the contrary lead to the destabilization of normative representations. This study speaks back to wider debates in entrepreneurship studies, including the plea to consider 'ordinary' entrepreneurs, the difference between 'being' an entrepreneur and 'doing' entrepreneurship, and the value in difference.