Entrepreneurial Identity: Why, How and So What?

Entrepreneurial identity – that is, “ an individual's thoughts, feelings, and beliefs about oneself in the founder role&x201D; (Hoang & Gimeno, 2010: 42) has been found to play an important role in how entrepreneurs think and act as they prepare to launch, and then run, their organizations (e.g., Cardon, Wincent, Singh & Drnovsek, 2009; Shepherd & Haynie, 2009; Fauchart & Gruber, 2011; Navis & Glynn, 2011; Powell & Baker, 2014). Despite recognizing entrepreneurial identity as something central to the behaviors entrepreneurs engage in, to date, scholars have paid limited attention to it – particularly in terms of what it entails (i.e., its “content&x201D;) and how people may develop it (i.e., the “process&x201D; they may follow to build it). Thus, in this symposium, we seek to gain a closer understanding of the content, formation, as well as individual repercussions of entrepreneurial identity. We believe that such an understanding has the potential to shed new light not only on the new venture creation process, including founders' motivations, and how entrepreneurs deal with resource constraints, but also on unexplored influences and mechanisms of identity construction. The symposium encompasses four paper presentations, remarks by a discussant, as well as time for questions and engagement with attendees.