Become an Entrepreneur? No, That Is Not My Way. Intersectionality and Sensitizing Students for Entrepreneurship

This research investigates intersectional inequality and its influence on students’ attitudes towards entrepreneurship. The overarching question of this research interest is: “To what extent is the intention to start a business influenced by intersectional inequality?” We conducted a qualitative study with a multi-level approach of an intersectionality analysis according to Winker and Degele (Intersektionalität. Zur Analyse sozialer Ungleichheit. transcript, Bielefeld, 2010). This praxeological intersectionality approach considers three levels of investigation: societal structures including institutions (macro level), interactively produced processes of identity formation (micro level), and cultural symbols (representation level). The results are derived from qualitative narrative interviews and their analysis, using open coding (inductive) as set forth in the grounded theory framework. The results provide evidence of hidden discrimination when it comes to accessing support for starting a business at universities. The results can be condensed into recommendations for action, so instruments can be developed that promote equal opportunities for potential entrepreneurs in tertiary education and, more broadly, in society. The survey was subject to an intersectional multi-level analysis and considers aspects that go beyond the gender perspective. This is a novel approach in entrepreneurship research. This study aims to find out how to sensitize students who were previously skeptical about starting a business to the topic of entrepreneurship.