Diversity Dimensions of Entrepreneurship: Addressing Multiple Strands of Diversity in Entrepreneurship Research

Abstract

Entrepreneurship is a politically charged discourse. It has positive aspects but also destabilises societal, economic and political power relations, and leads to various categories of inclusion and exclusion. Despite the Western governmental grand narrative that portrays a vision of society whereby the entrepreneurial values such as resourcefulness, risk-taking, self-efficacy, autonomy and confidence can be appropriated by everyone, regardless of their background and profile, entrepreneurship does not often elevate and liberate marginalised people who are in subordinate positions. Presupposed assumptions of entrepreneurship should be challenged when pursuing the lines of critical inquiry as advocated in this chapter. Entrepreneurship is not only a socio-economic process but also functions as a political ideology, which can be instrumental in reproducing and reinforcing conservative assumptions and actions and hence shape public policy and public perception in ways that serve conservative political or capitalist ends, as evident in the case of social enterprise and entrepreneurship in the UK. Therefore, policy implications of the intersection of diversity and entrepreneurship are fundamentally important.

Citation

Karatas¸-Özkan, M. (2017), "Diversity Dimensions of Entrepreneurship: Addressing Multiple Strands of Diversity in Entrepreneurship Research", Chanlat, J.-F. and Özbligin, M.F. (Ed.) Management and Diversity (International Perspectives on Equality, Diversity and Inclusion, Vol. 4), Emerald Publishing Limited, Leeds, pp. 209-229. https://doi.org/10.1108/S2051-233320160000004011