Purpose

Understanding belonging provides a better insight into the structural, political, cultural and gendered elements of entrepreneurship. This paper aims to focus on Mexican female entrepreneurs’ (MFE) experiences in managing material and affective aspects of entrepreneurial belonging during the start-up and transition phase to become an established business owner.

Design/methodology/approach

The narrative analysis is based on qualitative interview data with 11 MFE in Mexico.

Findings

The analysis reveals that MFEs’ sense of belonging evolves from self-oriented to more socially-oriented identity claims. In the former, the need to “fit in” and achieve material aspects of belonging is intertwined with gender and family responsibilities. In the latter, the need to “stand out” and achieve affective aspects of belonging is intertwined with validating entrepreneurial achievements by challenging gendered assumptions and helping others through the notion of “sisterhood.”

Originality/value

The paper extends the understanding of the relation of material and affective aspects of belonging as an “evolving” process from the nascent stage to the established stage of entrepreneurship. Within the evolving process of entrepreneurial belonging, a shift from material to affective aspects unveils a theoretical framework that relates belonging, gender and entrepreneurship in context. This process seems to regulate entrepreneur’s agency in what they interpret as acceptable while standing up against challenges and legitimizing belonging through the emergence of a “sisterhood.”

中文翻译：

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墨西哥女企业家的企业家归属感动态

目的

理解归属感可以更好地洞察创业的结构、政治、文化和性别因素。本文旨在关注墨西哥女企业家 (MFE) 在创业和转型阶段成为成熟企业主在管理企业家归属感的物质和情感方面的经验。

设计/方法/方法

叙述分析基于对墨西哥 11 家 MFE 的定性访谈数据。

发现

分析表明，MFE 的归属感从以自我为导向演变为更以社会为导向的身份主张。在前者中，“融入”和实现归属感的物质方面的需要与性别和家庭责任交织在一起。在后者中，“脱颖而出”和实现归属感的需要与通过挑战性别假设和通过“姐妹情谊”的概念帮助他人来验证创业成就交织在一起。

原创性/价值

本文将归属的物质和情感方面的关系扩展为一个从创业初期到成熟阶段的“进化”过程。在企业家归属感的演变过程中，从物质方面到情感方面的转变揭示了一个将归属感、性别和创业精神联系起来的理论框架。这个过程似乎以他们认为可以接受的方式来规范企业家的能动性，同时通过“姐妹情谊”的出现来抵御挑战和使归属合法化。