The rise and fall of the girlboss: Gender, social expectations and entrepreneurial hype

Hype is a collective vision and promise of a possible future, around which attention, excitement, and expectations increase over time (Logue & Grimes, 2022). Entrepreneurs employ cultural strategies, using framing to legitimize their endeavors and sustain the surrounding hype. Despite the importance of media in entrepreneurial hype, extant literature has yet to investigate media framing devices and how they shape and inform social expectations in the hype cycle. We also know that framing efforts are shaped by discursive struggles between actors (Kriechbaum et al., 2021) and that under-represented social groups are more constrained by dominant discourses. Yet, extant literature on entrepreneurial hype has thus far undertheorized power and inequality. We focus on one under-represented group - women – as they embody a glaring example of how media influence the social expectations associated with their entrepreneurial endeavors. Specifically, this study investigates how the media employ framing devices to generate social expectations for non-dominant groups (women entrepreneurs in our case) - and shape the hype cycle. To do so, we empirically analyze the evolution of the ‘girlboss’ hype, through a content analysis of 2671 media articles. Our contributions advance studies on entrepreneurial hype by explicating the role of media in the construction of hype. We contend that gender affords a critical power lens in the study of entrepreneurial hype that can be transferred to other contexts mired by inequality. We advance that feminist interrogations of media and entrepreneurship can contribute to understanding and addressing issues beyond gender. • Media framing devices are highlighted as driving forces of hype and contributing to the transition from "boom" to "bust" in hype cycles • Research on entrepreneurial hype privileges entrepreneurs framing efforts. We lack insights on media framing efforts • A post-feminist and neoliberal lens enhances our understanding of the implications of the cultural narrative surrounding women entrepreneurs and how they are often ‘designed to fail’. • Post-feminist theoretical approaches provide opportunities for the study of entrepreneurship and inequality