Process Typologies of Identity Construction in Entrepreneurship

Abstract

Entrepreneurship researchers are becoming increasingly interested in identity in entrepreneurship, often reflecting on the construction of identity in entrepreneurship as an ongoing process. This literature review identifies four groups of process typologies on identity construction in entrepreneurship: cause and effect, active and passive, salience and centrality, and sameness and otherness. This grouping of past typologies makes two contributions to directing future research on identity construction in entrepreneurship. First, it outlines the key past findings on how entrepreneurs construct their identities and highlights the different ways in which identity construction is processual in entrepreneurship. Implications for future research on identity construction and understanding entrepreneurship as a processual phenomenon are discussed.