Risk, Responsibility and Reward in University Entrepreneurship: Discourse Analysis of Students’ Entrepreneurial Identities

Entrepreneurship education has increasingly been recognized as a key context for shaping students’ entrepreneurial identities. However, less is known about how students discursively construct the meanings of risk, responsibility and reward within university-based entrepreneurship communities. This study addresses this gap by examining how risk, responsibility and reward are discursively negotiated in students’ narratives. Drawing on qualitative interview data from participants engaged in higher education entrepreneurship initiatives, the study applies grounded theory within a discourse-analytic framework. The findings reveal that risk is framed as a voluntary acceptance of uncertainty that signals courage and commitment; responsibility is constructed both as individual self-governance and as relational accountability within entrepreneurial communities; and reward is primarily articulated as intrinsic meaning, personal growth and future-oriented fulfilment rather than immediate financial gain. These discursive constructions interrelate to form a triadic model through which entrepreneurial identity is legitimized and sustained over time. The study contributes to entrepreneurship education research by demonstrating how identity formation is shaped through language and by highlighting the importance of community-based environments in cultivating ongoing entrepreneurial identity work.