ABSTRACT
The field of entrepreneurship studies is characterised by theoretical variation, but research influenced by economic or psychological perspectives has dominated while the impact of social and cultural factors on enterprise development has been relatively neglected (Steyaert & Katz, 2004; Karatas-Ozkan et al., 2014; Tedmanson et al., 2012). Entrepreneurial studies are, however, evolving, and the notion that entrepreneurship is a social phenomenon and, therefore, should be investigated through a social lens is gaining ground (Tatli et al., 2014; Thornton et al., 2011). The claim that enterprise and entrepreneurial activity is a socio-cultural-economic phenomenon is based on the proposition that entrepreneurship is a collaborative social achievement with the ‘social’ playing a role in the entire business start-up and innovation process (Korsgaard & Anderson, 2011; Tatli et al., 2014). Studies of entrepreneurship that draw on the concept of identity as a way of exploring entrepreneurial experiences, organisation creation, and the business start-up process are part of this ‘turn to the social’. This chapter contributes to the developing body of research that considers identity as an aspect of business ownership (e.g. Ainsworth & Hardy, 2008; Chasserio et al., 2014; Cohen & Musson, 2000; Down & Warren, 2008; Essers & Benschop, 2007; Foss, 2004; Jones et al., 2008; Mallett & Wapshott, 2015; Warren, 2004; Watson, 2009) by examining the emergence and representation of the mumpreneur as an entrepreneurial character, understood here as a woman who runs a business from home alongside the active parenting of children and the management of a household.
