Fading and transformation: how a woman entrepreneur's multiple identities interact throughout her life
通过案例研究和叙事分析，探讨一位女性企业家在创业、传承到退休过程中，其多重身份如何通过转化和褪色两种机制相互作用，并强调女性能动性在实现个人与职业成就中的关键作用。
Purpose This paper aims to further the understanding of women entrepreneurs' multiple identities by exploring how they interact throughout women's life cycles. Design/methodology/approach This article combines a case study and a narrative analysis to investigate the experience of a woman who founded a business and retired after passing it on to her son. Data were collected by combining two different methods: biographical interview and follow-up interviews or conversations. Findings Findings show that interactions between a woman entrepreneur's multiple identities may evolve through two main processes of change: transformation and fading. In the transformation process, adverse interactions between identities turn into synergistic and fruitful relationships. In the fading process, conflicts between identities gradually disappear, giving way to peaceful coexistence. Women's agency proves paramount in making these processes possible and helping her achieve personal and professional fulfillment. Originality/value In prior studies, women entrepreneurs have mostly been observed at a specific time or stage in their life and entrepreneurial experience. This paper responds to the call for the adoption of a dynamic perspective in the analysis of interactions among a woman entrepreneur's multiple identities so as to show how they may evolve during her entrepreneurial experience.