A Discourse Analysis of Research Texts on Mumpreneurs

Abstract

Research investigating female entrepreneurs has developed considerably over the past two decades. However, the muprenurship concept is still a relatively under-researched area, and represents a challenging research field. Departing from a social constructionist understanding of mumpreneurs, this study examines how the entrepreneurial mothers are constructed in research articles. The paper makes use of discourse analysis to examine a selection of empirical research articles from 2000 to 2017 on mumpreneurs in entrepreneurship research in order to convey the key concept, main findings, key contribution, and the methodology. The analysis of the research texts revealed several assumptions and constructs that were taken for granted about mumpreneurs. Main findings based on the discourse analysis reveal five hegemonic statements: Mumpreneurs are not ‘proper’ entrepreneurs, many women face competing and often contradictory societal expectations when they are combining motherhood and business, entrepreneurship supporting motherhood, new entrepreneurial identity: ‘I am not just a housewife, and mumpreneurs’ motivations change over and the life course. The practices and the research results are moreover dependent on the particular context in which the articles are produced. This means that their results and assumptions cannot be generalized to other contexts uncritically.