The other side of the coin: Investor identity and its role in resource provision

Abstract

While research highlights the importance of an entrepreneurial identity in acquiring resources, our exploratory study advances research on identity, entrepreneurship, and resource exchange by highlighting the other side of the coin: the role of an investor identity. Based on our qualitative study, we find that investors engage in sensegiving through organizational identity claims and actions to (re)define their organizational reality about who they are and what they do. They engage in investor identity work to adapt to the strategic changes in a market category and sustain resource provision. Our findings have theoretical implications for identity and entrepreneurship research including the construct of investor identity and its sensegiving function, its dynamism and role in strategic changes, and its role in subjective assessment of investor decision-making.