Navigating expectations and tensions : a transformative marketing perspective on women entrepreneurs and DEI in South Asian contexts : a report presented in fulfilment of requirements for the degree of Master of Business Studies in Marketing at Massey University, Albany

Abstract

This study examines how South Asian women entrepreneurs understand and interpret diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) within their entrepreneurial and marketing practices, and how they navigate tension associated with applying these principles in everyday business contexts. It focuses on Sri Lanka as a relevant South Asian setting, shaped by strong socio-cultural norms, gendered expectations, and resource-constrained entrepreneurial environments, alongside a growing but uneven ecosystem of women-led small and medium enterprises. These conditions provide a suitable context for examining DEI as a lived and situated practice rather than a formal organisational construct. A qualitative research design was employed. Data were collected through 13 semi-structured interviews with women entrepreneurs across diverse sectors in Sri Lanka. The interviews aimed to capture lived entrepreneurial experiences and were analysed using thematic analysis. Transformative marketing is used as a supporting theoretical lens to interpret how entrepreneurial practices evolve in response to changing market conditions and institutional expectations. The findings indicate that DEI is not understood as a formal framework, but as a context-dependent set of meanings shaped by social norms, resource constraints, and institutional realities. Diversity is interpreted as difference, equity as fairness and access, and inclusion as being community oriented. The findings further show that women entrepreneurs navigate differing expectations from customers and communities which shapes how DEI is understood and enacted within their entrepreneurial and marketing practices. This study contributes to the intersection of DEI, women’s entrepreneurship, and transformative marketing by illustrating how DEI is interpreted and enacted within resource-constrained entrepreneurial settings. It extends understanding of transformative marketing by demonstrating its relevance in interpreting lived, small-scale entrepreneurial realities in emerging economies.