Reconstructing women's entrepreneurial identity among rural small agrifood entrepreneurs: Agency, rural embeddedness, and stakeholder influence
Aina, M., Ayamga, M. and Ekpodilè-Domingo, B.A. (2026) Reconstructing women's entrepreneurial identity among rural small agrifood entrepreneurs: Agency, rural embeddedness, and stakeholder influence. Journal of Rural Studies, 127. ISSN 07430167
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M Aina Reconstructing Women's Entrepreneurial Identity among Rural Small Agrifood Entrepreneurs OCR Upload.pdf - Published Version Available under License Creative Commons Attribution. Download (2MB) | Preview |
Abstract
This paper explores how women entrepreneurs in the Republic of Benin, West Africa, reshape their entrepreneurial identities through agency and interactions with supportive stakeholders. Drawing on fifteen semi-structured interviews with women running small agrifood businesses and five interviews with representatives of women-support organizations, including NGOs, development projects and microfinance institutions, the study examines how women move from traditional, gendered roles toward being recognized and recognizing themselves as legitimate entrepreneurial actors. Rooted in scholarship on women's entrepreneurship, rural entrepreneurship and entrepreneurial identity, we emphasize that entrepreneurial identity reconstruction in rural and peri-urban settings is shaped by gendered norms, local reputation, household responsibilities, resource scarcity and stakeholder validation. Our findings show that women's motivation, personal control, self-efficacy and everyday entrepreneurial practice help them challenge socio-cultural constraints, while support organizations provide finance, coaching, recognition and legitimacy. Consequently, women gradually establish themselves as business owners and leaders, even though community recognition remains negotiated and gendered expectations persist. Building on these findings, we outline our study's contributions, policy implications and future research directions for scholarship on women's entrepreneurship, rural entrepreneurship and entrepreneurial identity.
| Item Type: | Article |
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| Keywords: | Women's entrepreneurship, Rural entrepreneurship, Entrepreneurial identity reconstruction, Gendered legitimacy, Stakeholder validation, Women's entrepreneurial agency, Agrifood businesses |
| Divisions: | Departments > Harper Adams Business School Research Centres > Centre for Social Science > Rural Resilience Research Group (3RG) |
| Depositing User: | Rebecca Pendragon |
| Date Deposited: | 15 Oct 2026 08:44 |
| Last Modified: | 15 Oct 2026 08:44 |
| URI: | https://hau.repository.guildhe.ac.uk/id/eprint/18435 |
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