Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to examine the construction of master narratives related to age, gender and entrepreneurship in the context of entrepreneurship education (EE) in Finnish higher education (HE). This is important as master narratives create and limit our understanding of entrepreneurship.

Design/methodology/approach

The data comprises 30 student interviews generated in one multidisciplinary Finnish university. The data were analyzed using narrative positioning analysis to examine what kinds of master narratives are (re)constructed in relation to age and entrepreneurship by Finnish university students and how gender intertwines with age in the construction of entrepreneurship.

Findings

Three aged and gendered master narratives were identified: (1) youthful, masculine, startup/growth entrepreneurship; (2) middle-aged feminine, expert entrepreneurship and (3) modest, feminine, senior entrepreneurship. The paper makes visible aged and gendered master narratives and cultural norms related to entrepreneurship in the context of EE and HE. Authors argue that the youthful, masculine startup/growth entrepreneurship is the hegemonic master narrative in the context of EE in Finnish HE. Femininity is mostly excluded from this master narrative.

Originality/value

The paper contributes to critical literature on entrepreneurship as an aged as well as gendered phenomenon in the context of EE and HE. So far research on entrepreneurship as an aged and gendered phenomenon in EE and in the context of HE has been virtually non-existent. Moreover, the theoretical and methodological focus on master narratives in entrepreneurship and EE literature is novel. The master narratives identified in the study show that HE students are not addressed equally in relation to entrepreneurship, but aged and gendered hierarchies are sustained.

中文翻译：

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芬兰高等教育中关于创业的老龄化和性别化大师叙事

目的

本文的目的是在芬兰高等教育 (HE) 的创业教育 (EE) 的背景下研究与年龄、性别和创业相关的主叙事的构建。这一点很重要，因为大师的叙述创造并限制了我们对创业的理解。

设计/方法/方法

该数据包括在芬兰一所多学科大学中生成的 30 名学生访谈。使用叙事定位分析对数据进行分析，以检验芬兰大学生在年龄和创业方面（重新）构建了哪些主叙事，以及性别如何在创业构建中与年龄交织在一起。

发现

确定了三种年龄和性别的主要叙述：（1）年轻、阳刚、创业/成长型创业；（2）中年女性，专家创业和（3）谦虚，女性，高级创业。该论文在 EE 和 HE 的背景下，使与创业相关的老年和性别主叙事和文化规范变得可见。作者认为，年轻、男性化的创业/成长型企业家精神是芬兰高等教育 EE 语境中的霸权大师叙事。女性气质大多被排除在这个主要叙述之外。

原创性/价值

该论文有助于在 EE 和 HE 的背景下，将创业作为一种老龄化和性别现象的批判性文献。到目前为止，在 EE 和 HE 的背景下，关于创业作为一种老龄化和性别现象的研究几乎不存在。此外，企业家精神和 EE 文学中对大师叙事的理论和方法论关注是新颖的。研究中确定的主要叙述表明，高等教育学生在创业方面没有得到同等的重视，但年龄和性别的等级制度仍然存在。