The power of being herself: authentic identity and well-being among women entrepreneurs

Abstract

Purpose This study aims to conceptualize female authentic entrepreneurial identity as a collective and relational identity process that integrates authenticity, gender and entrepreneuring in context marked by gender inequalities, and to explain how this identity functions as a stabilizing and protective resource for women's psychological and subjective well-being in gendered entrepreneurial environments. Design/methodology/approach This conceptual study is grounded in entrepreneurial identity and gender role scholarship. It develops an interdisciplinary dialogue with feminist theory, identity-based perspectives and psychological approaches to well-being. The framework examines how female authentic entrepreneurial identity is collectively constructed and how it operates as a stabilizing resource within structurally gendered entrepreneurial contexts. Findings The study shows that female authentic entrepreneurial identity emerges as a collective, relational and multidimensional process sustained through shared narratives, peer recognition and gender-attributed relational practices. This identity functions as a stabilizing and protective mechanism for women's well-being, mitigating chronic gender-related stressors and supporting the continuity of entrepreneurial action in masculinized environments. Originality/value This article advances gender and entrepreneurship research by conceptualizing female authentic entrepreneurial identity as a collective and relational process, rather than an individual property or solely individual process. By integrating feminist theory, social identity, authenticity and evolutionary psychology, it demonstrates how coherence between entrepreneurial “being and doing” supports women's well-being and enables every day, situated forms of social change in gendered entrepreneurial contexts.