IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/kap/sbusec/v64y2025i2d10.1007_s11187-024-00909-z.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

A racial identity approach to entrepreneurship: the lived experiences of African American and Black entrepreneurs

Author

Listed:
  • Susana C. Santos

    (Florida State University
    Business Research Unit (BRU-IUL))

  • Eric W. Liguori

    (Florida State University)

  • Michael H. Morris

    (University of Notre Dame)

  • SherRhonda R. Gibbs

    (Morehouse College)

Abstract

We focus on the role of racial identity in the entrepreneurial journey, its antecedents and expected outcomes. Building on entrepreneurial identity and racial identity literatures, we analyze 21 reflective interviews featuring African American and Black entrepreneurs leading successful businesses to develop a racial identity approach to entrepreneurship. Findings uncover that the relevance of racial identity, often perceived as a liability before embarking on entrepreneurial endeavors, triggers entrepreneurial action to escape racial segregation and discrimination. Within the context of the venture, racial identity manifests in two distinct ways: (a) through a value proposition and target market defined by racial centrality and ideology, showing how racial identity may be an asset; and conversely, (b) through racial salience when accessing resources, reflecting racial identity as liability. Creating a venture with a strong racial identity is an essential aspect of its racialized meaningfulness. The entrepreneur aims to provide a racial role model from the African American community to empower future generations and reinforce the perception of racial identity as a valuable asset. Our study challenges the notion of race-neutral entrepreneurship and supports that entrepreneurship is an emancipation mechanism for racial minorities.

Suggested Citation

  • Susana C. Santos & Eric W. Liguori & Michael H. Morris & SherRhonda R. Gibbs, 2025. "A racial identity approach to entrepreneurship: the lived experiences of African American and Black entrepreneurs," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 64(2), pages 599-623, February.
    • Handle: RePEc:kap:sbusec:v:64:y:2025:i:2:d:10.1007_s11187-024-00909-z
    DOI: 10.1007/s11187-024-00909-z
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s11187-024-00909-z
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1007/s11187-024-00909-z?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 search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Peter Younkin & Venkat Kuppuswamy, 2018. "The Colorblind Crowd? Founder Race and Performance in Crowdfunding," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 64(7), pages 3269-3287, July.
    2. Steven A. Brieger & Dirk Clercq & Timo Meynhardt, 2021. "Doing Good, Feeling Good? Entrepreneurs’ Social Value Creation Beliefs and Work-Related Well-Being," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 172(4), pages 707-725, September.
    3. Miruna Radu-Lefebvre & Vincent Lefebvre & Eliana Crosina & Ulla Hytti, 2021. "Entrepreneurial Identity: A Review and Research Agenda," Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, , vol. 45(6), pages 1550-1590, November.
    4. Dean A. Shepherd & Trenton A. Williams, 2023. "Different response paths to organizational resilience," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 61(1), pages 23-58, June.
    5. Barbara Bird & Candida Brush, 2002. "A Gendered Perspective on Organizational Creation," Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, , vol. 26(3), pages 41-65, April.
    6. Wiklund, Johan & Nikolaev, Boris & Shir, Nadav & Foo, Maw-Der & Bradley, Steve, 2019. "Entrepreneurship and well-being: Past, present, and future," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 34(4), pages 579-588.
    7. Alicia M. Robb & Robert W. Fairlie, 2007. "Access to Financial Capital among U.S. Businesses: The Case of African American Firms," The ANNALS of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, , vol. 613(1), pages 47-72, September.
    8. Greg Fisher & Regan Stevenson & Emily Neubert & Devin Burnell & Donald F. Kuratko, 2020. "Entrepreneurial Hustle: Navigating Uncertainty and Enrolling Venture Stakeholders through Urgent and Unorthodox Action," Journal of Management Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 57(5), pages 1002-1036, July.
    9. Sonny Nwankwo, 2013. "Entrepreneurship among British Africans: moving forward by looking backward," Journal of Enterprising Communities: People and Places in the Global Economy, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 7(2), pages 136-154, May.
    10. Santos, Susana C. & Caetano, António & Brochado, Ana, 2023. "Why am I so successful? Self-presentation and deliberative attributions of success in entrepreneurship," Journal of Business Venturing Insights, Elsevier, vol. 19(C).
    11. S. Fremeaux & F. Henry, 2023. "Temporality and meaningful entrepreneurship," Post-Print hal-04336897, HAL.
    12. Barjinder Singh & Doan Winkel, 2012. "Racial Differences in Helping Behaviors: The Role of Respect, Safety, and Identification," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 106(4), pages 467-477, April.
    13. Swab, R. Gabrielle & Wolfe, Marcus, 2023. "Game on! Age, race, and performance in the board game industry," Journal of Business Venturing Insights, Elsevier, vol. 19(C).
    14. Mmbaga, Nick A. & Mathias, Blake D. & Williams, David W. & Cardon, Melissa S., 2020. "A review of and future agenda for research on identity in entrepreneurship," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 35(6).
    15. Susana. C. Santos & Sílvia Costa & Michael H. Morris, 2022. "Entrepreneurship as a pathway into and out of poverty: a configuration perspective," Entrepreneurship & Regional Development, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 34(1-2), pages 82-109, January.
    16. Bakker, Rene M. & McMullen, Jeffery S., 2023. "Inclusive entrepreneurship: A call for a shared theoretical conversation about unconventional entrepreneurs," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 38(1).
    17. Timothy Bates, 1994. "Utilization of minority employees in small business: A comparison of nonminority and black-owned urban enterprises," The Review of Black Political Economy, Springer;National Economic Association, vol. 23(1), pages 113-121, June.
    18. Robert Fairlie & Justin Marion, 2012. "Affirmative action programs and business ownership among minorities and women," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 39(2), pages 319-339, September.
    19. Endrit Kromidha & Paul Robson, 2016. "Social identity and signalling success factors in online crowdfunding," Entrepreneurship & Regional Development, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 28(9-10), pages 605-629, October.
    20. François Neville & Juanita Kimiyo Forrester & Jay O'Toole & Allan Riding, 2018. "‘Why Even Bother Trying?’ Examining Discouragement among Racial†Minority Entrepreneurs," Journal of Management Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 55(3), pages 424-456, May.
    21. Robert W. Fairlie & Bruce D. Meyer, 2000. "Trends in Self-Employment among White and Black Men during the Twentieth Century," Journal of Human Resources, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 35(4), pages 643-669.
    22. Bogan, Vicki & Darity Jr., William, 2008. "Culture and entrepreneurship? African American and immigrant self-employment in the United States," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics (formerly The Journal of Socio-Economics), Elsevier, vol. 37(5), pages 1999-2019, October.
    23. Stephan, Ute & Tavares, Susana M. & Carvalho, Helena & Ramalho, Joaquim J.S. & Santos, Susana C. & van Veldhoven, Marc, 2020. "Self-employment and eudaimonic well-being: Energized by meaning, enabled by societal legitimacy," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 35(6).
    24. Gry Agnete Alsos & Tommy Høyvarde Clausen & Ulla Hytti & Sølvi Solvoll, 2016. "Entrepreneurs’ social identity and the preference of causal and effectual behaviours in start-up processes," Entrepreneurship & Regional Development, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 28(3-4), pages 234-258, March.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Kuratko, Donald F. & Covin, Jeffrey G., 2025. "Fifty years of entrepreneurship: Recalling the past, examining the present, & foreshadowing the future," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 186(C).
    2. Burnell, Devin & Neubert, Emily & Fisher, Greg & Marvel, Matthew R. & Stevenson, Regan & Kuratko, Donald F., 2024. "Entrepreneurial hustle: Scale development and validation," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 39(4).
    3. Carlos Poblete & Felipe Rifo & Joana Huaman, 2021. "The Role of Circular Business Modeling in the Entrepreneurial Identity-Construction Process," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(23), pages 1-25, December.
    4. Inessa Love & Boris Nikolaev & Chandra Dhakal, 2024. "The well-being of women entrepreneurs: the role of gender inequality and gender roles," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 62(1), pages 325-352, January.
    5. Xiaoyu Yu & Xiaotong Meng & Laura Stanley & Franz W. Kellermanns, 2024. "Self-employment and life satisfaction: The contingent role of formal institutions," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 63(1), pages 135-163, June.
    6. Robert Singh & Micah Crump, 2007. "Educational Attainment: A Key Factor for Improving the Lagging Rate of Black Entrepreneurship," The Review of Black Political Economy, Springer;National Economic Association, vol. 34(3), pages 217-229, December.
    7. Dimov, Dimo & Pistrui, Joseph, 2024. "Dynamics of entrepreneurial well-being: Insights from computational theory," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 172(C).
    8. Howell, Travis, 2022. "Coworking spaces: An overview and research agenda," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 51(2).
    9. Ute Stephan & Przemysław Zbierowski & Ana Pérez-Luño & Dominika Wach & Johan Wiklund & Marisleidy Alba Cabañas & Edgard Barki & Alexandre Benzari & Claudia Bernhard-Oettel & Janet A. Boekhorst & A, 2023. "Act or Wait-and-See? Adversity, Agility, and Entrepreneur Wellbeing across Countries during the COVID-19 Pandemic," Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, , vol. 47(3), pages 682-723, May.
    10. Michaelis, Timothy L. & Carr, Jon C. & McKelvie, Alexander & Spivack, April & Lerman, Michael P., 2023. "Health resourcefulness behaviors: Implications of work-health resource trade-offs for the self-employed," Journal of Business Venturing Insights, Elsevier, vol. 20(C).
    11. Uwaifo Oyelere, Ruth & Belton, Willie, 2009. "Coming to America: Does Immigrant's Home Country Economic Status Impact the Probability of Self-Employment in the U.S.?," IZA Discussion Papers 4178, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    12. Teyi, Shelter Selorm & Larsen, Marcus M. & Namatovu, Rebecca, 2023. "Entrepreneurial identity and response strategies in the informal economy," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 165(C).
    13. Aaron K. Chatterji & Kenneth Y. Chay & Robert W. Fairlie, 2014. "The Impact of City Contracting Set-Asides on Black Self-Employment and Employment," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 32(3), pages 507-561.
    14. Hsieh, Hui-Ching & Nguyen, Dat Thanh & Nguyen, Thien Le-Hoang, 2024. "Betting on success: Unveiling the role of local gambling culture in equity crowdfunding," Journal of Empirical Finance, Elsevier, vol. 78(C).
    15. Job Boerma & Loukas Karabarbounis, 2023. "Reparations and Persistent Racial Wealth Gaps," NBER Macroeconomics Annual, University of Chicago Press, vol. 37(1), pages 171-221.
    16. Rodrigo Morency Arouca Barbosa & Amalia Raquel Pérez-Nebra & Esther Villajos & Fernando González-Ladrón-De-Guevara, 2024. "The entrepreneur’s well-being: current state of the literature and main theories," Journal of Global Entrepreneurship Research, Springer;UNESCO Chair in Entrepreneurship, vol. 14(1), pages 1-18, December.
    17. Boris N. Nikolaev & Michael P. Lerman & Christopher J. Boudreaux & Brandon A. Mueller, 2023. "Self-Employment and Eudaimonic Well-Being: The Mediating Role of Problem- and Emotion-Focused Coping," Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, , vol. 47(6), pages 2121-2154, November.
    18. Clark, Daniel R. & Crawford, G. Christopher & Pidduck, Robert J., 2023. "Exceptionality in entrepreneurship: Systematically investigating outlier outcomes," Journal of Business Venturing Insights, Elsevier, vol. 20(C).
    19. Barkema, Harry G. & Bindl, Uta & Tanveer, Lamees, 2024. "How entrepreneurs achieve purpose beyond profit: the case of women entrepreneurs in Nigeria," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 119716, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    20. Ricardo Figueiredo Belchior & Hugo Castro-Silva, 2023. "The virtuous cycle of entrepreneurial identity and experience – a longitudinal analysis," International Entrepreneurship and Management Journal, Springer, vol. 19(4), pages 1739-1770, December.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Racial identity; Entrepreneurial identity; Entrepreneurship; African American;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • L26 - Industrial Organization - - Firm Objectives, Organization, and Behavior - - - Entrepreneurship
    • J1 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics
    • J7 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Labor Discrimination

    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:kap:sbusec:v:64:y:2025:i:2:d:10.1007_s11187-024-00909-z. 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.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with 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: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.springer.com .

    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.