Self-presentation and authenticity on LinkedIn: a comparative study of Singapore and India-based entrepreneurs

• Main Author: Lotankar, Sanali Ramesh
• Other Authors: Ian McGonigle
• Format: Thesis-Master by Research
• Language: English
• Published: Nanyang Technological University 2023
• Subjects: Social sciences::Sociology
• Online Access: https://hdl.handle.net/10356/164297
• Institution: Nanyang Technological University

Entrepreneurs‘ self-presentations on LinkedIn offer a glimpse into their contrived performances of professionalism. They tell us who they think they are, what they do, and what they aim for. Through a mixed methods research of content analysis of LinkedIn profiles and semi-structured interviews with entrepreneurs in India and Singapore, I found that entrepreneurs claim that their self-presentation on LinkedIn is authentic and reflective of their true selves. Entrepreneurs in Singapore perform authenticity and practice personal branding while entrepreneurs in India think that personal branding and authenticity cannot co-exist. Subsequently, dilemmas emerge from performances of authenticity in self-presentation and personal branding which are intensified by social contexts and online-offline continuum. This study builds on prior scholarship on social networking sites, self, self-presentation, identity, entrepreneurs, and authenticity as a social process and interactional performance.