Entrepreneurship in disadvantaged contexts

Abstract

This dissertation delves into the complexities of entrepreneurship within disadvantaged contexts, addressing fundamental questions regarding who faces exclusion from entrepreneurial opportunities, the underlying mechanisms, and the potential of entrepreneurial agency to overcome societal constraints. To this end, we draw on the concept of ‘non-opportunity’ and we aim to augment the actualisation theory of opportunities. While this theory sheds light on the ontology of opportunities, it has yet to delineate who is most susceptible to exclusion toward non-opportunity spaces and why, as well as where non-opportunity spaces are more likely to exist. This dissertation seeks to address these knowledge gaps by integrating institutional theory, stakeholder theory, and the concept of sociological imagination in entrepreneurship research. The theoretical contributions are complemented with an experimental study that scrutinises previously untested hypotheses about discrimination against disabled entrepreneurs. Our findings challenge prevailing assumptions by demonstrating, for the first time in bibliography, the positive effect of diversity on opportunity accessibility in entrepreneurship. They further call for more nuanced understandings of the contexts and factors bringing several individuals in a disadvantaged position.

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Identifiers

ORCID for Foteini Papadopoulou: orcid.org/0000-0002-3292-1918

ORCID for Mine Karatas-Ozkan: orcid.org/0000-0002-9199-4156

ORCID for Laura Costanzo: orcid.org/0000-0002-7197-6778

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