Emancipatory entrepreneurship as the lifelong pursuit of Eigensinn

Entrepreneurship can be a pathway to emancipation from social constraints and economic oppression. However, the stories of emancipatory entrepreneurship reveal that these pathways are as diverse and unique as entrepreneurs themselves. Inspired by Hermann Hesse, we explore this variation by conceptualizing emancipatory entrepreneurship as the lifelong pursuit of Eigensinn, a self-creating process of development that involves: i) discovering one’s inner voice, ii) recognizing a growing dissonance between Eigensinn and the outer world, and iii) accepting the consequences of following one’s inner voice. Eigensinn contributes a unifying lens to explore what inspires entrepreneurs in pursuing emancipation while adding a biographical dimension that frames emancipatory entrepreneurship as a profoundly subjective and open-ended journey. It emphasizes how the meanings of emancipation can evolve or rupture throughout different phases of life, urging entrepreneurs to remain attuned to their inner voice and confront the fear of radical uncertainty in answering its call.