Female refugees entrepreneurial mindset in a liminal space

This thesis investigates how refugee women develop and express entrepreneurial mindset within the liminal space as contextual setting during new venture creation. The research addresses a central question: How do female refugee entrepreneurs navigate entrepreneurial mindset across three dimensions - as a subject of change, through a process of change, and as an agent of change? The study builds upon existing theoretical foundations in liminality studies, examining how these spaces between established social structures shape the conditions where entrepreneurial agency emerges. The research design incorporated an initial pilot study which served three essential functions: it generated preliminary empirical insights into female refugee entrepreneurship, enabled critical assessment of the proposed methodology, and validated a draft conceptual framework for analysing the entrepreneurial experiences of refugee women. This exploratory phase proved instrumental in refining the subsequent primary investigation.

A novel analytical approach combining Feminist Poststructural Discourse Analysis (FPDA) with Derridean Deconstruction underpins a four-year ethno-case study of four refugee women. This methodology captures the evolving cognitive, emotional, and behavioural states of these women as they engage in entrepreneurial activities. The study’s objective, guided by FPDA’s insights into power, subjectivity, intersectionality, representation, and marginalisation, examines how refugee women’s entrepreneurial mindsets adapt and transform, while integrating Derridean deconstruction to interrogate binary
oppositions and dominant hierarchies within entrepreneurial discourse. Through systematic identification of privileged assumptions and taken-for-granted power relations, the analysis establishes how these women reconstruct entrepreneurial identities through discourse that both reproduces and resists established entrepreneurial narratives. The research examines the complex interplay between structural constraints - including financial barriers and discriminatory practices - and sociocultural pressures stemming from gendered obligations, cultural expectations, and conflicting role demands. By destabilising traditional entrepreneurial binaries and questioning normative assumptions, the analysis demonstrates how refugee women navigate and reconfigure entrepreneurial subjectivities within existing power structures.

The findings advance entrepreneurship theory through introducing the concepts of cyclical entrepreneurship and resource regrouping, which challenge linear progression models in both refugee and gender entrepreneurship literature. This theoretical contribution reveals how entrepreneurial mindsets develop within contexts of uncertainty, leading to diverse outcomes that include both conventional and unconventional entrepreneurial paths.

This study challenges the hegemonic representation of entrepreneurship by examining the structural barriers and identity changes that lead to diverse outcomes, including paths diverging from conventional entrepreneurial trajectories toward employment or unemployment. Through analysis of refugee women’s discourse and experiences, this research presents theoretical contributions regarding entrepreneurial mindset development within transitional contexts characterised by uncertainty. The findings establish implications for policy development responsive to the contextual and shifting nature of entrepreneurship as experienced by women in marginalised positions.