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This article aims to explore the potential of feminist phenomenology as a conceptual framework for advancing women’s entrepreneurship research and the suitability of interpretative phenomenological analysis (IPA) to the proposed framework.

The article critically examines the current state of women’s entrepreneurship research regarding the institutional context and highlights the benefits of a shift towards feminist phenomenology.

The prevailing disembodied and gender-neutral portrayal of entrepreneurship has resulted in an equivocal understanding of women’s entrepreneurship and perpetuated a male-biased discourse within research and practice. By adopting a feminist phenomenological approach, this article argues for the importance of considering the ontological dimensions of lived experiences of situatedness, intersubjectivity, intentionality and temporality in analysing women entrepreneurs’ agency within gendered institutional contexts. It also demonstrates that feminist phenomenology could broaden the current scope of IPA regarding the embodied dimension of language.

The adoption of feminist phenomenology and IPA presents new avenues for research that go beyond the traditional cognitive approach in entrepreneurship, contributing to theory and practice. The proposed conceptual framework also has some limitations that provide opportunities for future research, such as a phenomenological intersectional approach and arts-based methods.

The article contributes to a new research agenda in women’s entrepreneurship research by offering a feminist phenomenological framework that focuses on the embodied dimension of entrepreneurship through the integration of IPA and conceptual metaphor theory (CMT).

This article explores women entrepreneurs' lived experiences in their interactions with government enterprise support agencies. It investigates the relationship between gendering and Entrepreneurial Orientation (EO), as a normative orientation adopted at the institutional level and justified by an economic rationale. It also explores how women entrepreneurs articulate their experiences through embodied metaphors and image schemas, shedding light on how they navigate the institutional entrepreneurial space.

This study is framed within the concept of Phenomenological Orientation as conceptualised in feminist phenomenology. It applies Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis, a qualitative methodology focused on interpreting accounts of first-person lived experiences of a phenomenon. It combines IPA with Conceptual Metaphor Theory to understand women's articulation of their embodied relationship within the entrepreneurial space.

Findings reveal that the entrepreneurial orientation functions as a gendering process within entrepreneurial institutions, reinforcing masculine hegemonic ideals and marginalising women entrepreneurs. Women's phenomenological orientations often diverge from the normative entrepreneurial orientation, highlighting the need for a more inclusive framework in institutional entrepreneurial spaces.

This article contributes to women's entrepreneurship literature by underlining the temporal dimension of entrepreneurship and the tension that underpins their interactions with government support bodies. It calls for inclusive policies and procedures to match the heterogeneity of orientations. While highlighting its limitations, it also suggests future research directions to deepen the understanding of entrepreneurship and inform more suitable support structures for all entrepreneurs.

This study contributes to the literature by shedding light on the nuanced interplay between gendering, entrepreneurial orientation, and women entrepreneurs' lived experiences. It extends previous research by framing “orientation” within a temporality framework, offering a novel perspective on the gendering of entrepreneurial spaces.

All entrepreneurs interact simultaneously with multiple entrepreneurial contexts throughout their entrepreneurial journey. This conceptual paper has two central aims: (1) it synthesises the current literature on gender and entrepreneurship, and (2) it increases our understanding of how gender norms, contextual embeddedness and (in)equality mechanisms interact within contexts. Illustrative contexts that are discussed include entrepreneurship education, business networks and finance.

This conceptual paper draws upon extant literature to develop its proposed conceptual framework. It provides suggestions for systemic policy interventions as well as pointing to promising paths for future research.

A literature-generated conceptual framework is developed to explain and address the systemic barriers faced by opportunity-driven women as they engage in entrepreneurial contexts. This conceptual framework visualises the interplay between gender norms, contextual embeddedness and inequality mechanisms to explain systemic disparities. An extra dimension is integrated in the framework to account for the power of agency within women and with others, whereby agency, either individually or collectively, may disrupt and subvert the current interplay with inequality mechanisms.

This work advances understanding of the underrepresentation of women entrepreneurs. The paper offers a conceptual framework that provides policymakers with a useful tool to understand how to intervene and increase contextual embeddedness for all entrepreneurs. Additionally, this paper suggests moving beyond “fixing” women entrepreneurs and points towards disrupting systemic disparities to accomplish this contextual embeddedness for all entrepreneurs. By doing so, this research adds to academic knowledge on the construction and reconstruction of gender in the field of entrepreneurship.

Drawing on a constructionist-poststructuralist feminist perspective, this paper aims to extend thinking on the evolution of entrepreneurial ecosystems by exploring how gendered entrepreneurial ecosystems can become more inclusive.

The paper contends path dependency of entrepreneurial ecosystems, maintains embedded gender bias (and biases against disadvantaged or unconventional entrepreneur groups) and builds an argument for path creation to de-bias entrepreneurial ecosystems. A metaphorical descriptor of entrepreneurial ecosystems is probed as contributing to the gendered entrepreneurial ecosystem discourse. Three propositions, namely on path creation, transformative agency and appropriate metaphors, are derived from the extant literature and an illustrative example employed to interrogate these propositions.

We advance path creation via transformative agency as a means for moving towards inclusive entrepreneurial ecosystems. We provide an alternative metaphor to springboard change to the gendered scholarly discourse on entrepreneurial ecosystems. Our illustrative example lends support to our propositions.

This paper helps lay a foundation for new thinking on change towards inclusive entrepreneurial ecosystems. It provides a powerful argument for broadening the mainstream path dependence view of entrepreneurial ecosystems. It is unique in suggesting a constructionist-poststructuralist feminist standpoint to challenge the dominant discourse on entrepreneurial ecosystems.

This study aims to examine how women entrepreneurs in Kazakhstan's male-dominated sectors utilize the concept of positionality to navigate and redefine gender norms, focusing on their engagement with entrepreneurial masculinities and femininities. It explores the transformative potential of their strategic actions on gender dynamics within the entrepreneurial ecosystem.

Employing qualitative research through 27 in-depth interviews, this study adopts constructivist grounded theory to delve into how women entrepreneurs interact with gender norms within their entrepreneurial context. This approach highlights the dynamic interplay between gender norms and the strategies employed by women entrepreneurs to navigate these challenges.

The findings reveal that women entrepreneurs actively employ and navigate entrepreneurial masculinities and femininities as strategies to challenge traditional gender roles. Their approaches vary from conforming to, challenging and creatively redefining the gendered expectations encountered in their entrepreneurial journey. This demonstrates their agency in reshaping gender norms and contributing to the diversity of gender performances within the domain of entrepreneurship.

While focused on Kazakhstan, the study's findings suggest broader implications for understanding gender dynamics in entrepreneurship across different cultural contexts. Future research could extend this inquiry to varied sociocultural settings, employing post-structuralist and ethnographic methodologies to further explore the performance of gender roles and the negotiation of belonging in entrepreneurial contexts.

By foregrounding the concept of positionality, this study enriches the dialogue on gender dynamics within entrepreneurship, offering fresh perspectives on the agency of women entrepreneurs in male-dominated sectors. It illustrates how gender identities and performances are not fixed but are actively constructed and negotiated, contributing to the evolving landscape of entrepreneurial masculinities and femininities.

Although the extant literature has already recognised the negative impact of homebound responsibilities on women's entrepreneurship during the COVID-19 pandemic, it is yet to know whether and how the family has any other role in women's businesses during this critical period. This research aims to explore the patronising and patriarchal roles of the family regarding women's small businesses in a developing nation during the pandemic.

This feminist study is based on the interviews of women business-owners of a highly patriarchal developing nation, Bangladesh. During the period of the interview, Bangladesh was one of the top ten regions of the world in terms of the identified coronavirus cases.

The research unveils work-family enrichment by illustrating the help of family members in meeting the challenges of the pandemic period regarding women's certain business activities, such as the innovative production process. Besides, the study reveals the assisting and, in some cases, the non-cooperative approaches of family members concerning additional homebound responsibilities that affect work-family conflict during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Whereas the existing literature on women's entrepreneurship regarding the family revolves around work-family conflict due to maternal or caregiving responsibilities during the COVID-19 period, this feminist study substantially contributes to the understanding by revealing how family members help women by getting involved in business activities. It further enriches the prevailing knowledge regarding assisting or hindering activities of family members concerning domestic activities that affect women's businesses during the pandemic.

This study aims to explore gender performance in entrepreneurial pitching. Understanding pitching as a social practice, the authors argue that pitch content and body gestures contain gender-based norms and practices. The authors focus on early-stage ventures and the hegemonic masculinities and femininities that are performed in entrepreneurial pitches. The main research question is as follows: How is gender performed in entrepreneurial pitching?

The authors carried out the study with the post-structuralist feminist approach. The authors collected and analyzed nine online pitches with the reflexive thematic method to depict hegemonic masculinities and femininities performed at the pitch.

The authors found that heroic and breadwinner masculinities are dominant in pitching. Both male and female founders perform hegemonic masculinities. Entrepreneurs are expected to be assertive but empathetic people. Finally, there are connections between what entrepreneurs do and what investors ask, indicating the iteration of gender performance and expectations.

While the online setting helps the authors to collect data during the pandemic, it limits the observation of the place, space and interactions between the judges/investors and the entrepreneurs. As a result, the linguistic and gesture communication of the investors in the pitch was not discussed in full-length in this paper. Also, as the authors observed, people would come to the pitch knowing what they should perform and how they should interact. Therefore, the preparation of the pitch as a study context could provide rich details on how gender norms and stereotypes influence people's interactions and their entrepreneurial identity. Lastly, the study has a methodological limitation. The authors did not include aspects of space in the analysis. It is mainly due to the variety of settings that the pitching sessions that the data set had.

For social practices and policies, the results indicate barriers to finance for women entrepreneurs. Women entrepreneurs are rewarded when they perform entrepreneurial hegemonic masculinities with a touch of emphasized femininities. Eventually, if women entrepreneurs do not perform correctly as investors expect them to, they will face barriers to acquiring finance. It is important to acknowledge how certain gendered biases might be (re)constructed and (re)produced through entrepreneurial activities, in which pitching is one of them.

Practitioners could utilize research findings to understand how gender stereotypes exist not only on the pitch stage but also before and after the pitch, such as the choice of business idea and pitch training. In other words, it is necessary to create a more enabling environment for women entrepreneurs, such as customizing the accelerator program so that all business ideas receive relevant support from experts. On a macro level, the study has shown that seemingly gender-equal societies do not practically translate into higher participation of women in entrepreneurship.

For theoretical contributions, the study enhances the discussion that entrepreneurship is gendered; women and men entrepreneurs need to perform certain hegemonic traits to be legitimated as founders. The authors also address various pitching practices that shape pitch performance by including both textual and semiotic data in the study. This study provides social implications on the awareness of gendered norms and the design of entrepreneurial pitching.

How does the interplay between entrepreneurship policies and both formal and informal gender equality affect women’s inclination towards self-employment in contrast to men?

This study introduces and validates a comprehensive multi-level model underpinned by symbolic interactionism, institutional theory, and the nuances of gendered institutions. Employing innovative analytical techniques and leveraging data from 66 countries, we scrutinize how formal and informal gendered institutional arrangements either inhibit or facilitate an environment favorable to women’s entrepreneurial activities.

Significantly, our research delves into the nuanced effects of specific entrepreneurship policies across diverse nations. While these policies can bridge the gendered resource gap, a profound understanding of broader gender dynamics is crucial for fostering an inclusive entrepreneurial landscape.

Our insights advocate for a more integrated approach to bolster women’s participation in entrepreneurship, thus furthering their socio-economic progression.

How an entrepreneurial organisation sets the problem space determines the future venturing mode. However, the factors that contribute to differences in problem space are still not well-developed. Based on sensemaking theory, this study explores the influence mechanism and boundary conditions of organisational sensemaking on effectual problem setting.

The study is based on survey data from 162 entrepreneurial organisations in China. Hierarchical regression is used for analysing the data and testing the hypotheses.

Organisational sensemaking has a negative effect on effectual problem setting and a positive impact on outside-in entrepreneurial marketing capability; outside-in entrepreneurial marketing capability has a negative effect on effectual problem setting; outside-in entrepreneurial marketing capability plays a partially mediating role in the relationship between organisational sensemaking and effectual problem setting. Organisational size negatively moderates the relationship between organisational sensemaking and outside-in entrepreneurial marketing capability. It also negatively moderates the indirect effect of organisational sensemaking on effectual problem setting through outside-in entrepreneurial marketing capability.

First, this study contributes to the research on effectual problem setting by introducing organisational sensemaking as an antecedent. Second, this study extends the literature on organisational sensemaking by showing how organisational sensemaking affects entrepreneurial uncertainty, instead of treating uncertainty as an exogenous shock. Third, this study introduced the outside-in entrepreneurial marketing capability to reveal the mediating mechanism between organisational sensemaking and effectual problem setting.