Is anyone listening? Podcasting disadvantaged women entrepreneurs as engaged activist scholarship

Podcasting brings a new dimension to research impact that is unbounded spatially and temporally. In many ways, the virtual space may be considered an unexpected place to herald sustainable growth for marginalised entrepreneurs given the need to challenge structural disadvantage actively in the social world. However, podcasts are being employed not only to enhance research impact through dissemination, they can be emancipatory, used as research methods and within scholarly activism with the potential extension to entrepreneurship and disadvantaged women entrepreneurs.
Using the lens of engaged-active scholarship in a critical single case, this paper explores the methodological decisions of podcasting to support research impact for structurally disadvantaged women entrepreneurs. As a form of ethnography, the case study shows the decisions, tensions and power dynamics introduced by the actors and competing stakeholders within Accelerating Women’s Enterprise podcast - an EU funded research and innovation collaboration developing enterprise for disadvantaged women entrepreneurs in England and France’s channel region.
The podcast Accelerating Women’s Enterprise - Stories from the Frontline resolved to focus on harnessing the voice of seldom-heard entrepreneurs. Rather than simply echoing the research, we have found that their engaged creation has galvanised entrepreneurial networks, enhanced women’s social capital, affirmed their entrepreneurial identities and legitimised gender-aware training with the potential for their inspiring and challenging messages for global reach.