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The purpose of this study is to explore the potential of coaching to develop female entrepreneurship by overcoming potential barriers. It sought to understand how entrepreneurial self-efficacy can be applied to development relationships, through on-line coaching, examining changes in the four key elements of entrepreneurial self-efficacy enactive mastery, vicarious experiences, social persuasion and psychological arousal. The study examines the impact of coaching relationships on female entrepreneurial self-efficacy compared to a control group. The participant group was matched with coaches and undertook a structured six months’ coaching programme.

This was a longitudinal study using a mixed methods approach. Questionnaires investigating entrepreneurial self-efficacy were collected at two time points for both the coaching and control group. After the first time point, the coaching group was supported through a six months coaching development programme. At the second time point, questionnaires were again completed by both groups and qualitative data gather via interviews with the coaching group.

The findings from this study showed that coaching relationships had a positive impact on coachees’ entrepreneurial self-efficacy, compared to the control group in terms of enactive mastery, vicarious experience, social persuasion and psychological arousal. This suggests that coaching is a development intervention which can be used to enhance self-efficacy beliefs of female entrepreneurs, thereby increasing their chances of engaging in successful business creation and operation.

The group size was a problem, with four of the coaching group and ten of the control group dropping out. The coaching participants left the intervention due to personal reasons but no reason could be established for the control group participants leaving the study. The problem of ‘Type II’ was considered and in an attempt to overcome this problem, data were shown at below 10% (p < 0.10). It would also have been useful to collect more qualitative data from the control group.

An online coaching programme provided by women for women, which is tailored to the individual, can support female entrepreneurs through the difficult stages of start-up and development phases of business development. Creating more successful women owned businesses will not only provide financial benefits, but should help provide additional entrepreneurial networks for women, as well as more positive female role models. Exposure to positive role models has been found to have a direct effect on entrepreneurial self-efficacy. This circular affect should in theory keep on increasing, if female entrepreneurs have access to the tailored support provided by coaching programmes such as the one used here.

Considering the current global economic climate, it is increasingly important for women to be supported in small business ownership (Denis, 2012). Countries which actively promote women entering into business ownership will ultimately share the gains in terms of wider issues, i.e. improving education and health, and economic growth (Harding, 2007). If female entrepreneurship is to be encouraged and supported, provision needs to be designed and developed based on female entrepreneurs’ needs and requirements, rather than simply conforming to traditional business support models.

This study contributes to learning and theoretical debates by providing an understanding of female entrepreneurs' needs with regard to business support and how this can be related to and supported by coaching. It also adds to the literature on entrepreneurial self-efficacy, coaching and learning by providing empirical evidence to illustrate how coaching interventions, including the use of online methods, can have a positive impact on female entrepreneurial self-efficacy.

The purpose of this paper is to present a longitudinal, qualitative study exploring changes in the attributional constructions of sense-making in the perceptions and lived experiences of the glass-ceiling among a cohort of female mental health nurses in the National Health Service who participated in a 12-month multi-faceted career and leadership development pilot programme compared to a matched control group.

The authors interviewed 27 female mental health nurses in the UK who participated in a multi-faceted development programme specifically designed to support female nurses secure career advancement and 27 members of a matched control group who did not experience the programme. Participants engaged in semi-structured telephone interviews at three separate time points (six months apart) over a 12-month period.

Programme participants differed in their attributional constructions of sense-making in relation to the glass-ceiling over time compared to the matched control group, e.g., triggering understandings and awakenings and re-evaluating the glass-ceiling above when promoted. Findings are used to theorise about the glass-ceiling as a concept that shifts and changes over time as a function of experience.

Practical implications include important organisational outcomes in relation to fostering the career advancement and retention of talented female leaders at all career stages.

The authors present the first known longitudinal, qualitative study to explore changes in attributional constructions of sense-making in perceptions and experiences of the glass-ceiling among female nurses over time compared to a matched control group.

The purpose of this paper is to explore the experiences of lesbians in terms of career progression and development, focusing on several areas including, discrimination in the workplace, career resources, barriers to career development and the importance of disclosing one’s sexual identity in the workplace.

Interviews were conducted with 15 participants, 14 of whom had disclosed their sexuality at work. A grounded theory approach was used to conduct the analysis, and the findings suggested six core categories relating to the career experiences of the sample. These categories are: social climate; career choice; work environment; personality; being a lesbian and being a woman; and useful strategies.

The analysis highlighted several key findings, such as the importance of the relationship between gender and sexuality; the importance of working within a policy-driven environment such as the public sector; the importance of personality and the modification of behaviour as a personal resource for lesbians in the workplace. The research also highlighted the fact that discrimination still occurs at work but manifests itself in different and often more subtle ways and it was reported that, despite protective legislation, one of the greatest challenges for lesbians is working within a heterosexist and heteronormative environment.

There is a great deal of research dedicated to women’s career development but less on certain subgroups of women and even less on the career development of lesbians in organisations, and it is the aim of this paper to address the lack of research pertaining to the careers of lesbians in the UK.

This paper aims to contribute to prior gender-based conceptual models within organisational and management studies by incorporating an additional lens of disability. The authors present a context specific and embodied based model that we call the “two-way mirror effect” which accounts for the environmental and discursive effects of gender and disability within the workplace.

The paper reviews existing literature on gender, disability and employment and uses that literature to construct and support the concept of a two-way mirror effect.

By drawing on organisation and management-based studies, the authors have shown how previous models do not currently account for the experiences of disabled women within the workplace. Disabled workers, and especially disabled women face a myriad of unique barriers, including masculine and able-bodied employment practices (e.g. performative expectations) and exclusionary physical spaces (e.g. access, location to required facilities), that exclude them from full employment participation.

The review of existing literature and conceptual models reveal the gaps in research that academics and practitioners can build upon and the paper identifies the dominant norms that are embedded within organisational practices, which can be challenged to promote inclusion and equality.

The authors present a new intersectional-based conceptual model to fill a gap in organisational and management-based studies that accounts for the unique employment experiences of disabled employees, specifically disabled women.

The success or failure of a new business is often dependent on overcoming a series of potential barriers, eg securing sufficient financial backing, adequate and appropriate guidance and training etc. Yet, in light of the substantial growth rate of micro and small businesses, there has been little research into the experiences of potential and new business owners during the start‐up of such enterprises. To date there has been no systematic study of this group in the UK, and many questions remain unanswered. This study of micro and small business during the initialisation and formation of new venture creation (eg pre‐start‐up, 0‐6 months and 6‐12 months∥ sought to answer some of those questions. It identifies the needs of new business owners, the barriers they encounter, and the strategies they use to overcome those obstacles. The findings indicate that financial difficulties and the attitudes of banks towards new business owners are the main barriers to successful enterprise creation, with mentors and more specific advice cited as the assistance regarded as affording the greatest benefit to potential and new business owners. In addition, small and micro business owners are going out of business, or are unable to fulfil their potential, because they are denied access to those factors that promote success.