Purpose

This study aims to understand the socio-cultural context of Indian women's high-tech entrepreneurial experience. Despite a small proportion of women entrepreneurs, and the traditional gender dynamics among the educated middle-classes that appears to be antithetical to female entrepreneurship; women-led high-tech start-ups are on the rise.

Design/methodology/approach

Semi-structured interviews were conducted with women founders at an academic incubator in an elite Indian Institute of Technology. The study was based on the post-structural feminist approach that women entrepreneurs are embedded in their socio-cultural and institutional context. During data collection, the Coronavirus lockdown provided a natural experiment, highlighting entrepreneurial response to unforeseen obstacles.

Findings

It finds that the context is significant in constructing opportunity, and in navigating challenges of gender and entrepreneurship. Further, in the process of construction of an entrepreneurial identity, women innovators not only reproduce, but also modify their context. Also, the experiences with academic incubator indicate positive results both for gender dynamics and enhancing an emergent entrepreneurial culture.

Practical implications

The study highlights that women's high-tech entrepreneurship has considerable potential for enhancing women's status in society through the support of academic incubator. This has certain implications for policy.

Originality/value

It provides an insight in to the hitherto neglected issue of women's high-tech entrepreneurship in India, and argues that a study of “social embeddedness” not only highlights constraints for women entrepreneurs unique to that context, but also the potential of women's entrepreneurship in advancing women's agency and gender equality.

中文翻译：

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高科技孵化器中的女性创始人：印度社会文化背景下的企业家身份谈判

目的

本研究旨在了解印度女性高科技创业经历的社会文化背景。尽管女企业家比例很小，而且受过教育的中产阶级的传统性别动态似乎与女企业家背道而驰；女性领导的高科技初创企业正在崛起。

设计/方法/方法

在印度精英理工学院的学术孵化器中，对女性创始人进行了半结构化访谈。该研究基于女企业家融入其社会文化和制度背景的后结构女权主义方法。在数据收集过程中，冠状病毒封锁提供了一个自然实验，突出了企业对不可预见的障碍的反应。

发现

研究发现，背景在构建机会以及应对性别和创业挑战方面具有重要意义。此外，在构建企业家身份的过程中，女性创新者不仅进行了再生产，而且还修改了她们的背景。此外，学术孵化器的经验表明，在性别动态和增强新兴创业文化方面都取得了积极成果。

实际影响

该研究强调，通过学术孵化器的支持，女性高科技创业在提升女性社会地位方面具有相当大的潜力。这对政策有一定的影响。

原创性/价值

它提供了对迄今为止被忽视的印度女性高科技创业问题的洞察，并认为对“社会嵌入性”的研究不仅突出了在这种背景下对女性创业者的独特限制，而且还强调了女性创业在推动发展方面的潜力。妇女机构和性别平等。