IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/jbvent/v41y2026i4s0883902626000145.html

Not me, not yet, not anymore: Founder identity and entrepreneurial disidentification

Author

Listed:
  • Cogan, Aviel
  • Mathias, Blake

Abstract

Research recognizes that founders may struggle to identify as an entrepreneur. Yet, little is known about the process through which they may identify as not an entrepreneur. We bridge this gap by drawing on a longitudinal, qualitative study to develop the concept of entrepreneurial disidentification and clarify how and why it unfolds and evolves over time. Our findings reveal how entrepreneurial experience can disconfirm an identity as an entrepreneur through both social identity and role identity mechanisms. In doing so, we expand the explanatory reach of founder identity theory and extend its theorization of multiple identities and founder agency. We also advance understanding of identity tensions in the context of social entrepreneurship by problematizing the relationship between empathy and intersectionality.

Suggested Citation

  • Cogan, Aviel & Mathias, Blake, 2026. "Not me, not yet, not anymore: Founder identity and entrepreneurial disidentification," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 41(4).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:jbvent:v:41:y:2026:i:4:s0883902626000145
    DOI: 10.1016/j.jbusvent.2026.106584
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0883902626000145
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.jbusvent.2026.106584?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to

    for a different version of it.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:jbvent:v:41:y:2026:i:4:s0883902626000145. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/jbusvent .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.