This article examines entrepreneurial identity in both the United Kingdom and China through the lenses of identity theory and social identity theory to develop a deeper and more holistic understanding of the concept of entrepreneurial identity. By examining the entrepreneur as both a role and an identity, this article explores how an entrepreneur views the role of the entrepreneur, the counter-roles to the entrepreneur, and the “self-as-entrepreneur” and seeks to understand how entrepreneurs construct their identity as an entrepreneur. By looking at the role identity in different social constructs, a more nuanced view of entrepreneurial identity can be uncovered for entrepreneurs in both the United Kingdom and China. The study argues that entrepreneurs in the United Kingdom use counter-roles to bridge the disconnect between their understanding of the entrepreneur-as-role and the self-as-entrepreneur, whereas entrepreneurs in China have less conflict reconciling the two and use the counter-role as a way to paint entrepreneurship as a “calling,” justifying their abandonment of other identities.
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