Blocked bodies: how racialised and gendered embodiment shapes entrepreneurial identity work

Purpose Entrepreneurs who do not conform to the dominant identity of a White male start-up founder often encounter stigma, discrimination and challenges in gaining entrepreneurial legitimacy. To navigate these obstacles, they engage in Entrepreneurial Identity Work (EIW). While most research conceptualises EIW as a discursive and agentic process rooted in language and narrative, this study challenges that dominant framing by taking an embodied approach. It examines how racialised and gendered perceptions of the body shape the EIW of women and racial minority entrepreneurs and how structural constraints emerge through social interaction. Design/methodology/approach This exploratory qualitative study adopts a critical realist epistemological perspective and builds on ethnographic data from a nine-day start-up accelerator programme for women and racial minority entrepreneurs in the Netherlands. The data are analysed inductively and thematically. Findings The analysis identifies biased expectations, uncomfortable jokes and invalidating comparisons as key relational constraints on EIW. These constraints hinder women and racial minority entrepreneurs from establishing a legitimate entrepreneurial identity and prompt embodied responses in the form of diffusion or assertion. Originality/value This study contributes an underexplored embodied approach to EIW literature by problematising the field’s predominant emphasis on discursive agency. Furthermore, the study contributes to literature on entrepreneurship by marginalised groups by providing accounts of embodied EIW of women and racial minority entrepreneurs. Finally, the ethnographic method further enhances this understanding by capturing nuanced details of these experiences in real-world interactions.