Constructing entrepreneurial identities: the case of entrepreneurial dyads

This thesis investigates the processes of identity construction and identity work in entrepreneurial dyads. Entrepreneurial dyads are defined as two-person teams, in which members are bound both by a strong social tie and by a common commitment to start and manage a new business venture. The thesis builds on the work of Watson (2008) and adopts his conceptual framework for understanding how discourse shapes social identities and how these are used to inform the production of a coherent self. The business stories of three entrepreneurial dyads are used as case studies. Data were collected through both storytelling in interviews and direct observation. Entrepreneurs were asked to produce an individual account of their business story. In addition, the dyads' interactive dynamics were directly observed in their natural settings. The business stories produced by the dyads were analysed using the narrative method. First, the narrative styles of the business stories were assessed looking at elements such as plot, structure, and characterisation. This analysis allowed an understanding of the socially available discourses which provided the entrepreneurs with a system of meanings that shaped their presentations. Second, a process of narrative deconstruction allowed the identification of their locally meaningful discourse, uniquely created within each dyad by social interaction. What emerged shows that the entrepreneurs recounted not only traditional business stories, but enacted a unique discourse of 'being entrepreneurial'