Abstract Taking 43 rural female entrepreneurship stories as research sample, this study explores the identity construction process of Chinese rural female entrepreneurs by using the coding procedures of grounded theory, and constructs a process model of rural female entrepreneur identity construction. It is found that founder identity construction process of rural female entrepreneurs includes four stages: identity perception, identity conflict, identity work and identity realization. Although internal and/or external inducing factors triggers rural female’s entrepreneurial needs, the incongruence between entrepreneurial needs and individual self-situation perception leads to identity conflict. Driven by personal belief and personal responsibility，rural females who choose to continue to start their own businesses will conduct a series of identity work, including the separating of original identity, founder identity shaping and confirmation, and finally realize their founder identity through identity consolidation and extension.
ZHANG Jingwei,LI Qiqi,JIN Xiujuan. Research on the Identity Construction Process of Chinese Rural Female Entrepreneurs[J]. Chinese Journal of Management, 2022, 19(5): 656-.
