Entrepreneurship scholarship increasingly acknowledges that identity is central to entrepreneurial motivation, decision-making, and legitimacy (Shepherd & Patzelt, 2022). However, despite progress in understanding gender, race, and class within entrepreneurial contexts (e.g., Carter et al., 2007; Jennings & Brush, 2013; Bates et al., 2018; Liu et al., 2020), 2SLGBTQIA+ entrepreneurs remain understudied in the core entrepreneurship literature. Existing work often lacks theoretical depth on how sexuality and gender identity intersect with entrepreneurial ecosystems, institutional norms, and broader structural forces (e.g., Friedrich & Steyaert, 2024; Yamamura, Lassalle, & Shaw, 2022).

This special issue seeks to advance the conceptual, empirical, and methodological frontiers of 2SLGBTQIA+ entrepreneurship. We welcome research that draws on diverse epistemologies and approaches to highlight identity and its entanglement with systems of constraint and inclusion. We are particularly interested in how 2SLGBTQIA+ entrepreneurs navigate visibility, stigma, belonging, and legitimacy—both individually and collectively—and how these experiences are shaped by broader institutional arrangements (Lounsbury, Gehman, & Glynn, 2019; Rindova, Barry, & Ketchen, 2009) and by multi-scalar contexts of place (Yamamura, Lassalle, & Shaw, 2022).

We welcome submissions that draw on a range of theoretical perspectives including identity theory (Glynn, 2008), queer-feminist and emancipatory perspectives on entrepreneuring (Friedrich & Steyaert, 2024), intersectionality (Crenshaw, 1991), cultural and emancipatory entrepreneurship (Lounsbury & Glynn, 2019; Rindova et al., 2009), and institutional theory (Thornton, Ocasio & Lounsbury, 2012), as well as work that critically engages with entrepreneurial ecosystems and policy frameworks that enable or constrain 2SLGBTQIA+ entrepreneurs (Brieger & Gielnik, 2021).

We are especially keen to see papers that advance theory, method, and practice on Identity, Institutions, and Inclusion. Studying 2SLGBTQIA+ entrepreneurs naturally provides an opportunity to advance integrative approaches to theory that explores, for instance, how queer theory and disidentification might challenge and provide new insights into institutional dynamics (Friedrich & Steyaert, 2024) and how intersectional entrepreneurs are embedded across spatial scales (Yamamura, Lassalle, & Shaw, 2022), thus contributing to the institutional logics perspective.

In line with our efforts to encourage theoretical eclecticism, we also embrace methodological eclecticism. We welcome various kinds of qualitative scholarship, efforts to bridge qualitative and quantitative methodologies, as well as innovative approaches to queering methodologies (Milani & Borba, 2022). Given our interest in research that also has an impact on practice, we encourage submissions that include diverse scholarly teams including practitioners.

Topics of Interest

• We invite contributions that engage with, but are not limited to:
• LGBTQ+ identity and entrepreneurial identity work
• Coming out, concealment, and impression management in venture contexts (Creed, DeJordy, & Lok, 2010)
• Intersectionality (e.g., race, gender, class, disability) and layered entrepreneurial experiences (Crenshaw, 1991)
• Institutional barriers to legitimacy, funding, and recognition
• Emancipatory entrepreneurship: removing structural constraints through business creation (Rindova et al., 2009)
• Entrepreneurial ecosystems and their (in)capacity to support LGBTQ+ inclusion
• Policy and programmatic responses to LGBTQ+ small business development
• Entrepreneurial wellbeing, belonging, and non-economic goals (Brieger & Gielnik, 2021)
• Comparative studies of LGBTQ+ entrepreneurship across national and regional contexts
• Methodological approaches for studying LGBTQ+ and equity-deserving entrepreneurs

(please contact Guest Editors for list of references)