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1 – 10 of over 4000This paper attempts to investigate through empirical exercise how the chances of female employment opportunities rise in a developing country like India, against the backdrop of…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper attempts to investigate through empirical exercise how the chances of female employment opportunities rise in a developing country like India, against the backdrop of changes in institutions that are associated with globalization.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper develops a simultaneous equation model through a growth equation, gender equation and globalization equation to identify the factors impacting female labor market opportunities in India, based on annual time series data 1991–2019.
Findings
The major results of this study are as follows: (1) It is social globalization that positively impacts gender equality in employment opportunities apart from economic growth and trade diversification; (2) Evidence of “feminization of labor force” in the context of trade diversification is found; and (3) Equal gender opportunities reflect in equalizing outcomes in the labor market.
Practical implications
Growth strategies need to be constructed in such a way in India that it has redistributive implications and benefits women. The state agency needs to optimize the productive base of human resources and increase women's empowering capability through social and legal sanctions.
Originality/value
The uniqueness of the present paper lies in contributing to the existing literature on how gender inequality impacts trade diversification and how trade diversification impacts gender.
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Randah R Hamadeh, Maha AlSabbagh, Afaf Mubarak Bugawa, Adel Kamal, Fuad Ali, Ghada Abdulla Al Bufalasa and Tarik AlShaibani
The study will inform relevant workplace gendered policies at the university and other academic institutions.
Abstract
Purpose
The study will inform relevant workplace gendered policies at the university and other academic institutions.
Design/methodology/approach
A cross -sectional study was conducted on all the Arabian Gulf University full-time employees during the COVID-19 pandemic, in June 2021. A questionnaire was sent to the employees requesting data that included sociodemographic data, living conditions, psychological status, social aspects, work productivity and satisfaction. The generalized anxiety disorder questionnaire (GAD-7) was used to screen for anxiety.
Findings
Gender disparity was noted in the increase of responsibilities at home and towards young children, and in stress and anxiety. Women’s reductions in peer (90.7%) and social (88%) interactions were higher than among males (81.8%, 73%, respectively). There was a narrow gender gap in work productivity and workload. More males reported that the university was concerned about its employees during COVID-19 and were satisfied with the measures taken. There was a gender disparity with respect to superiors periodically checking if the workload was manageable and discussing the mental health and well-being of the employees.
Research limitations/implications
Future research directions may focus on how gender impacts the perception and response to crises in higher education in Arab countries.
Originality/value
This is one of the few studies in the region that examined the gendered psychosocial impact of COVID-19 and productivity in the workplace using a higher education institution as an example.
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Anne-Charlott Callerstig, Marta Lindvert, Elisabet Carine Ljunggren, Marit Breivik-Meyer, Gry Agnete Alsos and Dag Balkmar
In order to address the gender divide in technology entrepreneurship, we explore how different national contexts impact policies and policy implementation. We investigate how…
Abstract
Purpose
In order to address the gender divide in technology entrepreneurship, we explore how different national contexts impact policies and policy implementation. We investigate how transnational concerns (macro level) about women’s low participation in (technology) entrepreneurship are translated and implemented amongst actors at the meso level (technology incubators) and understood at the micro level (women tech entrepreneurs).
Design/methodology/approach
We adopt gender institutionalism as a theoretical lens to understand what happens in the implementation of gender equality goals in technology entrepreneurship policy. We apply Gains and Lowndes’ (2014) conceptual framework to investigate the gendered character and effects of institutional formation. Four countries represent different levels of gender equality: high (Norway and Sweden), medium (Ireland) and low (Israel). An initial policy document analysis provides the macro level understanding (Heilbrunn et al., 2020). At the meso level, managers of technology business incubators (n = 3–5) in each country were interviewed. At the micro level, 10 female technology entrepreneurs in each country were interviewed. We use an inductive research approach, combined with thematic analysis.
Findings
Policies differ across the four countries, ranging from women-centred approaches to gender mainstreaming. Macro level policies are interpreted and implemented in different ways amongst actors at the meso level, who tend to act in line with given national policies. Actors at the micro level often understand gender equality in ways that reflect their national policies. However, women in all four countries share similar struggles with work-life balance and gendered expectations in relation to family responsibilities.
Originality/value
The contribution of our paper is to (1) entrepreneurship theory by applying gendered institutionalism theory to (tech) entrepreneurship, and (2) our findings clearly show that the gendered context matters for policy implementation.
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Barbara De Micheli and Giovanna Vingelli
Research-funding organisations (RFOs) and research-performing organisations (RPOs) are in a privileged position to significantly reshape the research and innovation landscape …
Abstract
Research-funding organisations (RFOs) and research-performing organisations (RPOs) are in a privileged position to significantly reshape the research and innovation landscape – not only by implementing gender equality plans (GEPs) as institutions but also in terms of the relationship and potential impact of these plans on the institutional context in which they are embedded. This paper reflects on the content and methodology of the GEP implementation at two RFOs and one non-university RPOs. Grounded in the knowledge base of each organisation, the analysis provides insights and expert feedback in order to understand to what extent and under which conditions GEPs are a systematic and comprehensive policy in promoting structural change that has a high potential impact on research policy definition and funding. Reviewing the internal assessment phase, the preliminary steps in the design process as well as the implementation and monitoring phase, the analysis detects both the strengths and challenges or resistance connected to external and internal factors as well as the specific strategies that small organisations employ to promote and sustain organisational and cultural change.
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Nina Åkestam, Sara Rosengren, Micael Dahlén, Karina T. Liljedal and Hanna Berg
This paper aims to investigate cross-gender effects of gender stereotypes in advertising. More specifically, it proposes that the negative effects found in studies of women’s…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to investigate cross-gender effects of gender stereotypes in advertising. More specifically, it proposes that the negative effects found in studies of women’s reactions to stereotyped female portrayals should hold across gender portrayal and target audience gender.
Design/methodology/approach
In two experimental studies, the effects of stereotyped portrayals (vs non-stereotyped portrayals) across gender are compared.
Findings
The results show that advertising portrayals of women and men have a presumed negative influence on others, leading to higher levels of ad reactance, which has a negative impact on brand-related effects across model and participant gender, and for gender stereotypes in terms of physical characteristics and roles.
Research limitations/implications
Whereas previous studies have focused on reactions of women to female stereotypes, the current paper suggests that women and men alike react negatively to stereotyped portrayals of other genders.
Practical implications
The results indicate that marketers can benefit from adapting a more mindful approach to the portrayals of gender used in advertising.
Originality/value
The addition of a cross-gender perspective to the literature on gender stereotypes in advertising is a key contribution to this literature.
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This paper aims that mobile health (mHealth) applications have emerged as a key tool to support public health. However, there are only a few studies examining the influences of…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims that mobile health (mHealth) applications have emerged as a key tool to support public health. However, there are only a few studies examining the influences of health-related ascribes on continuance intention to use mHealth apps and how these influences are contingent on gender in the mHealth app using context.
Design/methodology/approach
This study takes the protection motivation theory as a theoretical framework to examine the ordered relationship between threat and coping appraisals and their impacts on continuance intention to use mHealth apps. In addition, this study further extends the literature on gender differences into the mHealth app's context to investigate the moderating role of gender. The suggested hypotheses are confirmed by a structural equation modeling approach and multigroup investigation employing survey data of 345 users of Spring Rain Doctor in China, a typical mHealth app.
Findings
The findings suggest that the impact of perceived disease threat on user's continuance intention is mediated entirely by coping appraisals. Furthermore, the three coping appraisals' impacts are contingent upon gender. Specifically, response efficacy is more crucial for male users in forecasting continuance intention, whereas self-efficacy and response cost have a more salient influence on continuance intention for female users.
Originality/value
This study examines the ordered influences of threat and coping appraisal, moderated by gender, on continuance intention on use mHealth apps. These findings could contribute to relevant theoretical and practical implications.
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Cristen Dalessandro, Daniel Patterson and Alexander Lovell
Compared to the years prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, more workers today seemingly have choice over where, when and how they do their work. However, gender inequalities at work…
Abstract
Purpose
Compared to the years prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, more workers today seemingly have choice over where, when and how they do their work. However, gender inequalities at work and at home persist, which may impact perceptions of choice. Thus, researchers must investigate the potential impact of gender and domestic responsibilities on perceptions of work-related options, including perceptions of workspace choice.
Design/methodology/approach
Using an original dataset with workers in North America, South America, Europe and Asia (N = 3,147), the authors conducted logistic regression analyses to explore whether workers felt they had a choice in where they do their work (workspace choice). In addition to gender, the authors considered the effect of domestic responsibilities (childcare and housework) on worker perceptions of workspace choice.
Findings
In the paper's initial regression, the authors found that men (OR: 1.24; 95%CI 1.04–1.48) as well as workers reporting that a partner was responsible for all or most of the housework (OR: 1.80; 95%CI 1.34–2.40) and childcare (OR 1.51; 95%CI 1.09–2.09) reported feeling a greater sense of workspace choice. Simultaneously, follow-up regression analyses found that women and men whose partners had a greater share of domestic responsibility had amplified perceptions of choice. However, surprisingly, men who claimed primary responsibility for domestic work also reported more choice over workspace.
Originality/value
Using an international sample, the authors explore gender inequities in worker perceptions of workspace choice. The authors' findings suggest that domestic responsibilities interact with gender in interesting ways, leading to differences in perceptions of choice in the post-pandemic workplace.
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Aleksandra Gaweł and Katarzyna Mroczek-Dąbrowska
Although several theoretical concepts imply different determinants of female entrepreneurship, the literature lacks a consensus on their significance. The aim of this paper is to…
Abstract
Purpose
Although several theoretical concepts imply different determinants of female entrepreneurship, the literature lacks a consensus on their significance. The aim of this paper is to verify how industry specificity influences the gender pay gap and its relation to female entrepreneurship.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors distinguish industries based on the gender equality level, measured jointly by two factors: pay gap level and female participation rate. The study has been conducted among 22 European countries with relatively similar institutional backgrounds. The authors carry out the analysis based on the panel regression models, which enable the authors to verify two predefined research questions.
Findings
The results of panel regression models indicate that industry specificity plays a significant role in the relation between the pay gap and female entrepreneurship. Generally, it can be concluded that gender pay gap as a measure of gender inequality is dependent on the industry specificity. The dependence is especially visible in the breakdown of male- and female-dominated industries.
Originality/value
The findings are consistent with the assumption that the gender pay gap is a discriminatory factor for women willing to become entrepreneurs in certain industries. The findings of the study may constitute a vital tool in planning to overcome it.
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Gustav Hägg, Diamanto Politis and Gry Agnete Alsos
This study aims to examine the role of gender balance in forming individuals’ understanding of entrepreneurship as manifested in the graduates’ occupational choices, asking: Does…
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to examine the role of gender balance in forming individuals’ understanding of entrepreneurship as manifested in the graduates’ occupational choices, asking: Does gender balance in entrepreneurship education influence start-up behaviour after graduation? Based on gender mainstreaming, this study builds on the assumption that gender balance influences classroom and student community discourses. This study presents two hypotheses suggesting a positive relationship between gender balance (student and mentor gender balance, respectively) and the likelihood of engaging in start-up behaviour after graduation.
Design/methodology/approach
The context is an international one-year master's programme in entrepreneurship and innovation, which adopts an experienced-based pedagogical approach to support learning. This study applies binary logistic regression analysis to test the hypotheses on a sample of 107 graduates who responded to a web-based questionnaire on post-graduation career paths.
Findings
This study finds support for the first hypothesis indicating that student gender balance in the classroom has a significant positive impact on graduates' likelihood of engaging in start-up activity post-graduation. In the interpretation of these findings, this study emphasizes that a master's programme in entrepreneurship is an important arena where students' attitudes, values, aspirations and intentions towards entrepreneurship are shaped and their identity developed.
Originality/value
While studies have demonstrated gender bias in the discourses on entrepreneurship education and content, there is little evidence of its consequences or how it is addressed. Findings of this study point directly to this gap by revealing that improved gender balance is not only beneficial to the underrepresented gender, but to the overall student group.
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Barbara Orser, Xiaolu (Diane) Liao, Allan L. Riding, Quang Duong and Jerome Catimel
This paper aims to inform strategies to enhance public procurement opportunities for women-owned small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). To do so, the study examines two…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to inform strategies to enhance public procurement opportunities for women-owned small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). To do so, the study examines two research questions: To what extent are women-owned enterprises under-represented among SME suppliers to government; and Do barriers to public procurement – as perceived by SME owners – differ across gender?
Design/methodology/approach
The study draws on the resource-based view (RBV) of the firm and on theories of role congruity and social feminism to develop the study’s hypotheses. Empirical analyses rely on comparisons of a sample of 1,021 SMEs that had been suppliers to government and 9,376 employer firms that had not been suppliers to government. Data were collected by Statistics Canada and are nationally representative. Logistic regression analysis was used to control for systemic firm and owner differences.
Findings
Controlling firm and owner attributes, majority women-owned businesses were underrepresented as SME suppliers to government in some, but not all sectors. Women-owned SMEs in Wholesale and Retail and in Other Services were, ceteris paribus, half as likely as to be government suppliers as counterpart SMEs owned by men. Among Goods Producers and for Professional, Scientific and Technical Services SMEs, there were no significant gender differences in the propensity to supply the federal government. “Complexity of the contracting process” and “difficulty finding contract opportunities” were the obstacles to contracting cited most frequently.
Research limitations/implications
The limitations of using secondary analyses of data are well documented and apply here. The findings reflect only the perspectives of “successful bidders” and do not capture SMEs that submitted bids but were not successful. Furthermore, the survey did not include questions about sub-contractor enterprises, data that would likely provide even more insights about SMEs in government supply chains. Accordingly, the study could not address sub-contracting strategies to increase the number of women-owned businesses on government contracts. Statistics Canada’s privacy protocols also limited the extent to which the research team could examine sub-groups of small business owners, such as visible minorities and Indigenous/Aboriginal persons. It is also notable that much of the SME literature, as well as this study, define gender as a dichotomous (women/female, men/male) attribute. Comparing women/female and men/males implicitly assumes within group homogeneity. Future research should use a more inclusive definition of gender. Research is also required to inform about the obstacles to government procurement among the population of SMEs that were unsuccessful in their bids.
Practical implications
The study provides benchmarks on, and directions to, enhance the participation of women-owned SMEs or enterprises in public procurement. Strategies to support women-owned small businesses that comply with United Nations Sustainable Development Goals are advanced.
Social implications
The study offers insights to reconcile economic efficiency and social (gender equity) policy goals in the context of public procurement. The “policy-practice divides” in public procurement and women’s enterprise policies are discussed.
Originality/value
The study is among the first to use a feminist lens to examine the associations between gender of SME ownership and public procurement, while controlling for other salient owner and firm attributes.
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