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This paper aims to analyse the role of a network in the development of female business experiences through the study of the Industrie Femminili Italiane (I.F.I.) (Italian Women’s Cooperative Enterprise), founded in 1903 in Rome to promote women’s work and their economic conditions.

This study applies the embeddedness theory for women’s empowerment that provides a valuable lens to explore the interactions between female entrepreneurs and their social, cultural and economic contexts.

With this study, the authors found that the network structure was used at the beginning of the past century in Italy as a useful instrument for female emancipation and empowerment, extending to common/not exceptional women entrepreneurial opportunities otherwise reserved for rich and noble women. In the interplay among the different “contexts” (political, social, cultural and cognitive), it seems to emerge the incidence of female social relationships in facing an unfavourable political and cultural context, breaking out the norms and allowing the business to exist and influencing, with the activity of the high social standing women, the cognitive structure of the other female workers, make them active participants in this entrepreneurial activity.

This is a single case study that has shed light on a specific female network, and the authors’ findings and considerations are influenced by the shortage of data and sources available. Demonstrating that I.F.I. is the result of the collaboration of women from different social classes involved at different organisational levels, this work shows, from a historical perspective, the importance of female mutual support for their emancipation and the role played by the network structure as an amplifier of possibilities otherwise limited to rich women, the emancipation of women and minorities in countries characterised by important barriers to entrepreneurship.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first paper analysing a female entrepreneurial network from a historical point of view and its role in overcoming gender barriers within the analysis of the interplaying contexts.

This paper provides a historical case study, through the analysis of Luisa Spagnoli’s entrepreneurial life. Luisa Spagnoli was one of the most famous Italian businesswomen of the twentieth century, founder of “Perugina” chocolate factory and creator of “Luisa Spagnoli” fashion firm. The study aims particularly to examine the role of Luisa in the development of her businesses within the wider context of Italy of the 1900s, and to verify if and how gender has influenced the meaning and the shape of her entrepreneurial initiatives over time.

This study offers a historical analysis of entrepreneurial life of Luisa Spagnoli, developed through an archival study in a synchronic view. An interpretive historical method is adopted to deepen and better understand the links among personal, cultural, social and institutional domains.

This study contributes to the scholarship on businesswomen’s role in history and underlines the role of personal perceptions of female entrepreneurs to overcome external barriers.

The limitations of this study concern the nature of the analysis itself, which is a single-case study.

This analysis highlights the centrality of personal self-perceptions to face up to the difficulties of an unfavourable context, contributing to create the pre-conditions necessary to become an entrepreneur.

This paper aims to explore the emerging phenomenon of integrated reporting (IR) in the context of state-owned enterprises (SOEs) and proposes a longitudinal analysis of the level of IR disclosure (IRD) provided by a sample of European SOEs for the period 2013–2017, in accordance with IR framework requirements. The study also proposes an analysis of the possible explanatory factors driving the level of IRD. Specific attention is devoted to examine the influence exerted by the public ownership on the level of IRD provided by SOEs.

The IRs published by a balanced sample of 18 European SOEs between 2013 and 2017 were examined through a manual content analysis. Several analyzes were performed to assess the relationship between the level of IRD provided by SOEs and some possible determinants.

Results show an increasing level of disclosure during the observed period, confirming the relevance of IR as a tool for transparency and accountability within the context of SOEs. Statistical analyzes show that government ownership, external assurance, investor protection and global reporting initiative guidelines adoption positively affect the level of IRD, while SOE size exerts a negative influence.

As this paper examines a context which has been under-investigated, it presents fresh knowledge about the evolution of IR adoption by European SOEs. Furthermore, this paper identifies some of the explanatory factors that drive the preparation of IR, thus providing international integrated reporting council, policymakers and standard-setters with the relevant information for inclusion in specific guidelines for IR by SOEs.

This paper aims to further the understanding of women entrepreneurs' multiple identities by exploring how they interact throughout women's life cycles.

This article combines a case study and a narrative analysis to investigate the experience of a woman who founded a business and retired after passing it on to her son. Data were collected by combining two different methods: biographical interview and follow-up interviews or conversations.

Findings show that interactions between a woman entrepreneur's multiple identities may evolve through two main processes of change: transformation and fading. In the transformation process, adverse interactions between identities turn into synergistic and fruitful relationships. In the fading process, conflicts between identities gradually disappear, giving way to peaceful coexistence. Women's agency proves paramount in making these processes possible and helping her achieve personal and professional fulfillment.

In prior studies, women entrepreneurs have mostly been observed at a specific time or stage in their life and entrepreneurial experience. This paper responds to the call for the adoption of a dynamic perspective in the analysis of interactions among a woman entrepreneur's multiple identities so as to show how they may evolve during her entrepreneurial experience.