Narrating the Entrepreneur

Abstract

Within the social sciences narrative approaches have become more popular. In recent years ithas also been suggested that entrepreneurship research would benefit from the use of a narrative approach. Interest in this direction is now emerging. The purpose of this article is to illustrate and reflect upon how narrative approaches can contribute to entrepreneurship research. The article is focused on three areas: (1) The construction of entrepreneurial identities, (2) Entrepreneurial learning, (3) (Re)conceptualizing entrepreneurship. It is argued that a narrativeapproach contributes to the literature by enriching the understanding of what motivates individual entrepreneurs and the way they run their businesses. Storytelling is closely related to entrepreneurial learning and complements other approaches. Furthermore, storytelling and story-making serve as potential metaphors for conceptualizing and reconceptualizing entrepreneurship.