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The process by which disabled individuals become entrepreneurs can be influenced by factors of different orders. Throughout their entrepreneurship careers and projects, disabled entrepreneurs may have to overcome multiple personal, social and political barriers. This study aims to review what we do (and do not) know about disabled entrepreneurs research to date.

The literature review focused on analyzing 42 articles from two databases, namely, Web of Science and Scopus. After the articles were selected, they were grouped into thematic clusters.

The results were categorized into four areas, namely, entrepreneurs with disabilities, self-employment as an alternative to unemployment for people with disabilities, barriers faced by disabled entrepreneurs and the importance of education, training and/or orientation for these individuals’ entrepreneurship. The research verified that, in some cases, people with disabilities resort to self-employment and become entrepreneurs to avoid unemployment. Education and training’s positive role in how this process develops is clear as they empower individuals with disabilities and enable them to raise entrepreneurial attitudes.

Based on the citation profile of articles on disabled entrepreneurs, the results contribute to a better understanding of the flow and main findings of scientific research on this topic over the past 15 years. The findings also include research tendencies that reveal the field’s emergent perspectives, which are of great importance to academics seeking to enhance entrepreneurial processes and policymakers interested in stimulating entrepreneurship education.

Progress accomplished by the disabled entrepreneurs on the fronts of profits, turnover, return on investment (ROI), employees engaged, capital employed and diversification shall be studied and prevalence of gender differences in such progress shall be assessed.

The proposed research is descriptive in nature, based on primary data, collected by personally administering a well-structured interview schedule to 201 disabled entrepreneurs in Puducherry selected using a snowball sampling technique. Data collected has been analyzed using SPSS 21, using the tools of mean, one-way ANOVA, factorial ANOVA and chi-square (χ²) analysis.

The prevalence rate of entrepreneurship among female disabled is very low. Female disabled entrepreneurs manage higher turnover than their male counterparts and manage insignificantly higher progress in terms of capital employed, while male disabled entrepreneurs have managed insignificantly higher progress in terms of profits, diversification and ROI. Illiterate disabled, both men and women, struggle to manage decent turnover while the better educated manage better turnover.

This paper has highlighted the low prevalence rate of entrepreneurship among women disabled though the fewer women disabled entrepreneurs are performing better than their male counterparts in operating their business.

The findings of this paper may be taken as base for formulation of effective government policies in empowering disabled persons in general and women disabled in particular.

There is a dearth of studies exploring the intersection of gender and disability within entrepreneurship research. This is despite women’s entrepreneurship research encouraging an expansion of the research questions asked and approaches taken. As a contribution to this debate, the purpose of this paper is to develop an understanding of gender and disability as social categorizations which can shape entrepreneurial opportunities and experiences for disabled women entrepreneurs.

The paper offers an intersectional conceptual lens for the study of disabled women entrepreneurs to explore a concern for a particular social group – women – at a neglected point of intersection – disability – within the social setting of entrepreneurship. Guided by the research question (how can gender and feminist disability theory contribute to the development of an intersectional theoretical lens for future entrepreneurship research?), the potential for new theoretical insights to emerge in the entrepreneurship field is identified.

Through a gender and disability intersectional lens for entrepreneurship research, four theoretical synergies between gender and disability research are identified: the economic rationale; flexibility, individualism and meritocracy; and social and human capital. In addition to the theoretical synergies, the paper highlights three theoretical variances: the anomalous body and bodily variation; sexuality, beauty and appearance; and multiple experiences of care as potentially generative areas for women’s entrepreneurship research. The paper identifies new directions for future gender, disability and entrepreneurship research by outlining research questions for each synergy and variance which draw attention to disabled women entrepreneurs’ experiences of choice and control within and across different spaces and processes of entrepreneuring.

The conceptual intersectional lens offered to study disabled women’s entrepreneurship highlights new directions for exploring experiences of entrepreneuring at the intersection of disability and gender. The paper brings disability into view as a social category that should be of concern to feminist entrepreneurship researchers by surfacing different dimensions of experience to those currently explored. Through the new directions outlined, future research can further disrupt the prevailing discourse of individualism and meritocracy that perpetuates success as an individual’s responsibility, and instead offer the potential for richer understandings of entrepreneuring which has a gender and disability consciousness.

In the past decade, entrepreneurship research has evolved with the contribution of different scholars, but there is a lack of studies available that focused on entrepreneurship with disabilities. The objective of the research is understanding differently abled entrepreneurs and their entrepreneurial journey. How challenges caused by disability contribute to motivate them to pursue entrepreneurship as a career. This study is based on “Underdog entrepreneurs: Challenge-based entrepreneurship model” theoretical model proposed by Miller and Breton-Miller (2017).

This qualitative research includes case study methodology to study eight differently abled entrepreneurs. All the identified cases are located in the city of Ahmedabad, Gujarat, India. In-depth interviews and multiple visits were scheduled to collect the data. Transcripts of the interview and observation notes were developed for the analysis of the content according to the adopted theoretical model.

Differently abled entrepreneurs show similar traits as the non-disabled entrepreneurs. They are also found to be more resilient and persistent while dealing with the challenges of failure, stress and uncertainty. Difficult conditions and experiences of discrimination indirectly prepare them for tackling challenges while pursuing entrepreneurship. People close to differently abled entrepreneurs play a critical role in shaping and supporting their ventures.

Owing to the lack of authentic information available on disabled entrepreneurs, the study does not include different entrepreneurs with more disabilities such as hearing impairment, speech impairment and mental illness. The study also focuses on the entrepreneurs of Ahmedabad City, Gujarat because of the similar reason.

This paper is an original submission and contributes towards understanding the differently abled entrepreneurs.

Entrepreneurship and disability are discordant because of the assumption that the former is only meant for non-disabled people. Drawing on the capability, agency/structure and social exclusion theories, this study examines the lived experiences of physically challenged women entrepreneurs in the Sekondi-Takoradi Metropolis, Ghana.

The study used a qualitative approach, involving in-depth interview and observation to solicit the views of six physically challenged women entrepreneurs in the Metropolis.

The study found that the physically challenged women consider themselves as women with entrepreneurial minds, capable of actualising and achieving their entrepreneurial well-being, by functioning and proving their capabilities and having the capacities to choose and act independently. The study also found that the structures (physical self, socio-economic, cultural and attitudes, etc.) that confront the women reinforce their capabilities as physically challenged women entrepreneurs. It further found that for these women, being a physically challenged woman entrepreneur demands that one should have self-belief capabilities and being high self-esteem regardless of one’s challenges.

The study is an original submission that makes contributions towards understanding and appreciating the perspectives and lived experiences of capable physically challenged women entrepreneurs in a developing country. There have been studies on women entrepreneurs in Ghana but not specifically on physically challenged women entrepreneurs. This study addresses that gap.

Women play an essential role in entrepreneurship because they have been able to make social and economic contributions in many countries. However, women continue encountering numerous difficulties when engaging in entrepreneurial activities, particularly from a societal perspective. Therefore, it is necessary to study the underlying factors influencing women's entrepreneurial intentions that lead to their success in entrepreneurship. This study examines gender stereotype perceptions, perceived social support and self-efficacy in women's entrepreneurial intentions in Batik micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) in West Java, Indonesia.

This study used a quantitative method by randomly distributing questionnaires to women entrepreneurs in the MSME sector in the batik craft industry in the Trusmi area, West Java, Indonesia. The research questionnaire was completed by 150 female entrepreneurs, and a structural equation model-partial least squares (PLS) was employed to examine the hypotheses proposed in this study.

The findings of this study revealed that gender stereotype perception and perceived social support have a positive and significant effect on self-efficacy. Gender stereotype perceptions affect women's entrepreneurial intentions, both directly and mediated by self-efficacy. Meanwhile, perceived social support has a significant effect on women's entrepreneurial intention only when it is mediated by self-efficacy.

This study presents empirical evidence on how gender stereotype perception, perceived social support and self-efficacy affect women's entrepreneurial intentions and establishes a novel conceptual framework for women's entrepreneurship in emerging economies. This study provides academic and practical implications by identifying the entrepreneurial intentions of women who have carried out entrepreneurial activities. This study also provides direction for policymakers to encourage women's entrepreneurial intentions.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the role of universities in preparing disabled students to become entrepreneurially inclined after graduation with the aim of developing an entrepreneurial inclination (EI) model.

A cross-sectional survey was employed using 220 disabled universities’ students in the north-central Nigeria. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, correlation analysis and structural equation model. All analyses were performed using SPSS version 22 and AMOS version 22.

The findings buttress the significant position of universities in promotion entrepreneurial spirit. It revealed that the university’s role (UR), entrepreneurship education (EE) and role models (RMs) have a positive influence on disabled students’ EI. Universities that make provisions for entrepreneurship infrastructure, knowledge and RMs to disabled students will boost their EI. Second, the more lecturers and RMs inspire students, method of teaching and demonstrating enthusiasm are applied in the teaching of entrepreneurship, the better it prepares students for entrepreneurial career after graduation.

The study is only restricted to Federal Universities in the North-Central Nigeria. Further research could be conducted to cover other tertiary institutions in North-Central Nigeria. Furthermore, the study employed the cross-sectional approach. A longitudinal approach should be employed to study the trend over a period of at least two years. Finally, the factors identified in triggering EI may not be sufficient enough in explaining the phenomenon. There are other factors that may contribute in influencing EI of the disabled students that were not part of this study.

This study indicates a number of implications for the universities and policy makers. Specifically, EE, UR and RMs make significant contributions to inclination for disabled students. These factors are key for universities in Nigeria to consider in preparing these students to become entrepreneurial graduates. Policy makers and other stakeholders need to develop keen interest in designing entrepreneurship curriculum to accommodate the specific needs of students with disabilities.

This study is the first in Nigeria to empirically test the relationship between UR, EE and EI as well as the moderating effect of RMs among universities’ disabled students.

The purpose of this paper is to explore and analyse the barriers entrepreneurs with disabilities (EWD) face when establishing their own enterprises, as well as the supporting factors in starting and running a business.

This is an explorative study. Data were collected using semi-structured interviews with ten Hungarian entrepreneurs with physical disabilities or sight-loss, during the summer of 2018.

The paper classifies the barriers and supporting factors, as personal, economic and social. Based on the perceptions of the entrepreneurs, personal characteristics, identity and various types of family support play an important role in becoming entrepreneurs, but the entrepreneurial ecosystem generally is not favourable in Hungary, and there are no special support programmes focussing on EWD.

Sample size is a serious limitation: the ten entrepreneurs do not represent in any sense the entire EWD community in Hungary, so the patterns found cannot be considered a generally valid picture.

The article contributes to the literature on entrepreneurship and disabilities, especially through the systematic review of the possible barriers and supporting factors and to the existing empirical body of knowledge by shedding light on the barriers and supporting factors in a rarely investigated region, in Central Europe: Hungary.

As a “fictitious commodity” (Polanyi), that cannot be separated from the human being who is its owner, labor has a special moral significance. However, this moral quality is not a given but must be asserted in struggles over the value of labor. With the example of disabled workers in Switzerland, this chapter examines the moralization of labor as a means to revalue a category of workers who range far down the labor queue. Moralization mediates the tension between the normative societal goal of inclusion for disabled people and the freedom of employers to select the most “productive” workers. Drawing on the theoretical approach of the Economics of Convention the chapter analyzes the valuation frames proposed by economic and welfare state actors in political debates over the establishment of the Swiss disability insurance and the role of employers regarding occupational integration. A core concept used in negotiations of the value of disabled labor in the public arena and within individual businesses is the “social responsibility” of employers. Historically, employers’ associations successfully promoted the liberal principle of voluntary responsibility to prevent state interference in the labor market. In contrast, disability insurance argues predominantly within the market and the industrial convention to “sell” its clientele in the context of employer campaigns and case-related interactions with employers. Only recently, both sides started to reframe the employment of disabled people as a win–win affair, which would reconcile economic self-interest and the common good.

This study examines the relationship between entrepreneurial passion, entrepreneurial support programs and entrepreneurial intention, and the moderating role of entrepreneurial support programs in the relationship between entrepreneurial passion and entrepreneurial intention, among students with physical disabilities in Nigerian tertiary institutions.

This study used a closed-ended questionnaire survey, composed of previously validated scales, to sample 209 students with physical disabilities at tertiary institutions in Nigeria. Hierarchal regression was performed to assess the relationships between the variables and test the hypotheses.

Both entrepreneurial passion and entrepreneurial support programs were found to be significantly positively related to entrepreneurial intention, and entrepreneurial support programs also moderated the relationship between entrepreneurial passion and entrepreneurial intention.

This research paper identifies that developing entrepreneurial passion and providing accessible and inclusive entrepreneurial support programs are valuable in supporting and facilitating a passage into entrepreneurship for those with disabilities.

This research paper addresses calls for further understanding of how those with disabilities can be supported into entrepreneurship, by identifying supporting factors. The research paper provides further understanding of the entrepreneurial passion and intention nexus by exploring the relationship within those with a physical disability, where significant barriers exist and within a developing country context where entrepreneurship might be a necessity rather than driven by passion.