Storytelling of Female Entrepreneurs

While there is a substantial body of literature exploring the influence of entrepreneurial storytelling on the legitimacy of nascent entrepreneurs, this debate remains almost entirely gender blind. This work challenges the assumption that entrepreneurship is a gender-impartial and -neutral space by adopting a feminist standpoint to reveal that current conceptualizations of entrepreneurial storytelling and identity construction are informed by masculine discourses. Specifically, it was analyzed how female entrepreneurs narrate their stories and identities with regard to challenges and opportunities in gaining legitimacy as an entrepreneur. The findings revealed that experience and age either act as a constraint or facilitator in the legitimation of female entrepreneurs. Furthermore, the historically constructed male entrepreneur standard continues to impact female entrepreneurial stories, although mostly latent. Due to this prevailing masculine norm in entrepreneurship, female entrepreneurs consciously experience sameness or difference in their identity construction through assimilation or otherness, respectively.