Romilda Mazzotta, Maria Teresa Nardo, Patrizia Pastore and Giovanna Vingelli
The purpose of this paper is to assess whether the gender composition of the board of directors affects the sensitivity to gender issues in defining university strategies and…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to assess whether the gender composition of the board of directors affects the sensitivity to gender issues in defining university strategies and therefore strategic plans.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors conducted an ordinary least square regression to test the relationship between gender sensitivity approach and board composition in Italian state universities (ISUs). The authors measured the gender sensitivity approach of each university by an index (gender sensitivity approach index) determined based on content analysis. Gender board composition is, instead, analyzed by heterogeneity (homogeneity) index (Herfindahl–Hirschman Index) of the board.
Findings
The finding suggests that, if the board has a certain level of heterogeneity, then university strategic plan (USP) is a more gender-sensitive approach.
Research limitations/implications
The study analyses only the 2018 USPs of ISUs and considers the presence of women within the board, and not their actual role and their position in the university hierarchy.
Practical implications
The practical implication of this study is that if universities want to guarantee gender equality, they should open their boards more widely to women.
Originality/value
To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first work that analyzes the relationships between board composition and sensitivity to gender issues within the USPs. The paper therefore contributes to the literature on governance in the public sector, particularly in universities. Moreover, it stimulates the accounting debate on gender issue and highlights that gender issues cannot be taken up by decision-making bodies that are not heterogeneous enough.
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Claudia Arena, Simona Catuogno, Paola Paoloni and Patrizia Pastore
While most research on female entrepreneurship has been conducted using the traditional private-for-profit logic, with the growing rise of hybrid and public organizational forms…
Abstract
Purpose
While most research on female entrepreneurship has been conducted using the traditional private-for-profit logic, with the growing rise of hybrid and public organizational forms, the value of female entrepreneurial initiatives tends to be shared with society at large. Overcoming the traditional distinction between private vs public sectors, this paper relies on the publicness theory and aims to appreciate the shared value of female entrepreneurship by reviewing evidence from the field of knowledge sharing.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors conduct a three-phase systematic literature review on female entrepreneurship and knowledge sharing based on a sample of 188 articles for the period 2010–2022 retrieved from the three most extensive databases for evaluating scientific research (i.e. WoS, Scopus and Google Scholar) using a combination of relevant keywords within business and management domain. After the performance analysis of selected publications, the authors conduct a content analysis aimed at identifying the most recurrent theoretical framing, the impact of female entrepreneurship on value creation and the use of knowledge sharing. Finally, the authors conduct a thematic analysis using the theoretical perspective of the publicness to frame how different knowledge-sharing practices have been used in female entrepreneurship to create and spread public value.
Findings
The findings reveal that female entrepreneurship research has generally adopted managerial organizational and sociological theoretical frameworks, reported positive implications on value creation and has seldom exploited knowledge-sharing practices, with particular reference to the settings of low level of publicness. In addition, based on the development of the conceptual model, the authors suggest that the practice of networking in organizational structures characterized by a high level of political and/or economic authority makes the pattern of public value-sharing with the entire ecosystem easier.
Originality/value
The authors adopt an original approach that frames female entrepreneurship research within the lens of publicness theory to highlight the knowledge-sharing practices that allow the value created by female entrepreneurial initiatives to become a shared value in organizations characterized by high levels of political and/or economic authority. The proposed framework contributes to the research on entrepreneurship and knowledge sharing by providing a structured reference point to carry forward research on gender entrepreneurship and knowledge-sharing practices through the theoretical lens of the publicness.
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Massimo Sargiacomo, Christian Corsi, Luciano D'Amico, Tiziana Di Cimbrini and Alan Sangster
The paper investigates the closure mechanisms and strategies of exclusion concerning the establishment and subsequent functioning of the Collegio dei Rasonati, the professional…
Abstract
Purpose
The paper investigates the closure mechanisms and strategies of exclusion concerning the establishment and subsequent functioning of the Collegio dei Rasonati, the professional body of accountants that was established in Venice in 1581 and operated until the end of the 18th century.
Design/methodology/approach
The research design offers a critical longitudinal explanation of the emergence of the Collegio dei Rasonati as a professional body in the context of Venetian society by relying on the social closure theory elaborated by Collins (1975); Parkin (1979) and Murphy (1988).
Findingse
The Collegio dei Rasonati was established to overcome the prerogatives of a social class in accessing the accounting profession. However, the pre-existing professional elites enacted a set of social closure strategies able to transform this professional body into a stronghold of their privileges.
Research limitations/implications
As virtually all of the evidence concerning the admission examinations has been lost over time, the investigation is restricted to the study of the few examples that have survived. The main implication of the study concerns the understanding of some dynamics leading to neutralize attempts to replace class privileges with a meritocratic system.
Originality/value
The research investigates the structure of the rules of social closure revealing the possibility of an antagonistic relationship between different co-existing forms of exclusion within the same structure. Moreover, it highlights that a form of exclusion can be made of different hierarchical levels.