Hustle
A conceptual exploration of work at the margins
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 12892575 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Nicolai C Jepsen (Copenhagen Business School, corresponding author), Lauren Eaton (0009-0008-9151-4248, Copenhagen Business School) |
| Year | 2025 |
| Volume | 20 |
| Issue | 3 |
| Pages | 314-335 |
| Publication date | 2025-05-13 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Management & Organizational History (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 1744-9359 • E-ISSN: 1744-9367 |
| Publisher | Taylor & Francis (PUBLISHER • GB) |
| DOI | 10.1080/17449359.2025.2503154 |
| OpenAlex | W4410317395 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 1 |
| References cited | 46 |
The concept of hustle is integral to the relationship between entrepreneurship and evolving perceptions of ‘good’ work. However, the relationship between what is regarded as good work and how entrepreneurial language shapes that perception remains underexplored. Using the concept of hustle, we investigate how language has shaped the perceived legitimacy of different forms of work and, in turn, how these changing perceptions have reshaped the meaning and practice of hustle itself. By employing conceptual history methods, we trace the evolving uses and meanings of hustle in the United States from the late nineteenth century to the present. We demonstrate how societal contexts and deliberate discursive shifts have continuously reconfigured hustle’s boundaries to legitimize, stigmatize, and valorize what is considered legitimate and desirable work. We argue that hustle has been promoted as (1) emancipation for workers from adverse conditions, (2) a tool for removing stigma from nontraditional work, and (3) a means of sanctifying alternative work arrangements within entrepreneurial ideology. This study contributes to the literature on entrepreneurialism and to management scholarship on hustle as a theoretical construct
Epistemology · Sociology · Work (physics · Digital Economy and Work Transformation · Engineering · Entrepreneurship Studies and Influences · Labor market dynamics and wage inequality · Philosophy
The Entrepreneurial Self
Farewell to the Factory
Hustle and Gig
Reclaiming the space of entrepreneurship in society
Entrepreneuring as Emancipation
Entrepreneurial Action And The Role Of Uncertainty In The Theory Of The Entrepreneur
The Culture of Enterprise in Neoliberalism
New Movements in Entrepreneurship
The Practice of Conceptual History
Dead Selves
The Rise and Fall of the Neoliberal Order
The Rise and Fall of the New Deal Order, 1930-1980
The Conquest of Cool
The evolving domain of entrepreneurship research
Sharing economy workers
Hip hop entrepreneurship
Sure, I saw sales, but it consumed me” from resilience to erosion in the digital hustle economy
A postcolonial and pan‐African feminist reading of Zimbabwean women entrepreneurs
Hustling in the creative industries
The Californian ideology
Reinventing Entrepreneurial History
Entrepreneurship, discourses and conscientization in processes of regional development
The Gig Economy
Basic Concepts in History
| Unique citing works | 1 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 1 |
| Citation span | 2025 - 2025 (1) |
| Citation velocity | recent |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 1 |