Women in Business

170 Pages·2019·4.163 MB·English

by  Paola Demartini, Paola Paoloni, Francesca Maria Cesaroni

administrative
sciences
Women in Business
Edited by
Paola Demartini, Francesca Maria Cesaroni and Paola Paoloni
Printed Edition of the Special Issue Published in Administrative Sciences
www.mdpi.com/journal/admsci
Women in Business

Women in Business
SpecialIssueEditors
PaolaDemartini
FrancescaMariaCesaroni
PaolaPaoloni
MDPI•Basel•Beijing•Wuhan•Barcelona•Belgrade
Special Issue Editors
Paola Demartini Francesca Maria Cesaroni
Roma Tre University University of Urbino Carlo Bo
Italy Italy
Paola Paoloni
Sapienza University of Rome
Italy
Editorial Office
MDPI
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4052 Basel, Switzerland
This is a reprint of articles from the Special Issue published online in the open access journal
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Contents
AbouttheSpecialIssueEditors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . vii
PaolaDemartini
Why and How Women in Business Can Make Innovations in Light of the Sustainable
DevelopmentGoals
Reprintedfrom:Adm.Sci.2019,9,64,doi:10.3390/admsci9030064 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
PaolaDemartini
InnovativeFemale-LedStartups.DoWomeninBusinessUnderperform?
Reprintedfrom:Adm.Sci.2018,8,70,doi:10.3390/admsci8040070 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
PaolaPaoloniandGiuseppeModaffari
Female-OwnedInnovativeStartupsinItaly:StatusQuoandImplications
Reprintedfrom:Adm.Sci.2018,8,66,doi:10.3390/admsci8040066 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
KatherinaKuschel
Women Founders in the Technology Industry: The Startup-Relatedness of the Decision to
BecomeaMother
Reprintedfrom:Adm.Sci.2019,9,30,doi:10.3390/admsci9020030 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55
FrancescaMariaCesaroni,MariaGabriellaPediconiandAnnalisaSentuti
It’s Always a Women’s Problem! Micro-Entrepreneurs, Work-Family Balance and
EconomicCrisis
Reprintedfrom:Adm.Sci.2018,8,74,doi:10.3390/admsci8040074 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72
AdrianaTiron-TudorandWidadAtenaFaragalla
WomenCareerPathsinAccountingOrganizations:Big4Scenario
Reprintedfrom:Adm.Sci.2018,8,62,doi:10.3390/admsci8040062 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 88
MaraDelBaldo,AdrianaTiron-TudorandWidadAtenaFaragalla
Women’sRoleintheAccountingProfession:AComparativeStudybetweenItalyandRomania
Reprintedfrom:Adm.Sci.2019,9,2,doi:10.3390/admsci9010002. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 104
Katherina Kuschel and Erica Salvaj
Opening the “Black Box”. Factors Affecting Women’s Journey to Top Management Positions:
A Framework Applied to Chile
Reprintedfrom:Adm.Sci.2018,8,63,doi:10.3390/admsci8040063 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 127
GiovannaGalizzi,GaiaVivianaBassaniandCristianaCattaneo
AdoptionofGender-ResponsiveBudgeting(GRB)byanItalianMunicipality
Reprintedfrom:Adm.Sci.2018,8,68,doi:10.3390/admsci8040068 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 140
PaolaPaoloniandGabrieleSerafini
FemaleEntrepreneurshipinPerspective:AMethodologicalIssue
Reprintedfrom:Adm.Sci.2018,8,67,doi:10.3390/admsci8040067 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 153
v

About the Special Issue Editors
Paola Demartini is Full Professor of Business Administration and Corporate Governance at Roma Tre
University, Department of Business Studies. She is the Head of the Roma Tre Corporate Governance
Lab. Her main research fields concern sustainability performance and accountability, gender in
business studies and entrepreneurship. Author and co-author of several essays in international
scientific journals, she has authored over 100 scholarly publications. She has been co-ordinator or
member of research teams supported by funding agencies such as the Italian MIUR, the Finnish
Tekes, the Croatian Ministry of Tourism and she is now involved in a Horizon2020 research project
granted by the European Union. Since 2015, she is included in the official Register of independent
Experts issued by the Italian Ministry of Education, University and Research, for the scientific
evaluation of national and international research projects. She is the member of the editorial board of
several scientific journals and since 2018 she is co-editor in chief of Piccola Impresa/Small Business, a
scientific journal devoted to entrepreneurship research and Chief Editor of the Series: Corporate
Governance and Business Scenarios, published by Roma TrEPress.
Francesca Maria Cesaroni is Full Professor of Business Administration at the University of Urbino
Carlo Bo, Department of Economics, Society, Politics, Urbino (PU), Italy. She is the Director
of the Bachelor Degree in Economics and Management, School of Economics, Department of
Economics, Society, Politics, University of Urbino, Italy and she teaches Advanced Accounting and
Entrepreneurship and small business at the School of Economics, University of Urbino. Her main
research topics include SMEs, entrepreneurship, women-owned firms, family firms, succession
process. She is the editor and author of several essays in international scientific journals. She is the
member of the editorial board of several scientific journals and since 2018 she is the co-editor in chief
of the journal Piccola Impresa/Small Business. Since 2016 she is the Scientific responsible of
UniurbLab, the Contamination lab of the University of Urbino, http://contaminationlab.uniurb.it, a
teaching program aimed at promoting student entrepreneurship. She is the Director of the Research
Centre on Entrepreneurship and Small-Medium-sized firms, University of Urbino, Italy. Since 2017,
she is the Italian vice-president for ECSB-European Council of Small Business.
Paola Paoloni, is Full Professor at The Sapienza University Faculty of Economy, in Rome. She teaches
Business Administration and Strategic decisions. Her research interest includes general management,
financial reporting, female entrepreneurship and intellectual-based management. She is the head of
“Ipazia” Scientific Observatory of gender studies. She is author and co-author of several articles
and books on above mentioned research areas and she attended as a speaker at many international
conferences. She is member of: SIDREA (Societa Italiana di Ragioneria e di Economia Aziendale);
NCP new club Paris –task force women; AIDEA (Accademia Italiana di Economia Aziendale). She is
a member of the Editorial Board of some academic journals like: Open innovation: Technology,
Market, and Complexity; China-USA Business Review journal. She is Vice-President of the Society of
Open Innovation Technology. She is scientific director of the Observatory on Gender.
vii

administrative
sciences
Editorial
Why and How Women in Business Can Make
Innovations in Light of the Sustainable
Development Goals
PaolaDemartini
DepartmentofBusinessStudy,RomaTreUniversity,00154RomaRM,Italy;[email protected]
Received:20August2019;Accepted:21August2019;Published:25August2019
1.Introduction
In1999,AmartyaSenwrote,“... womenareincreasinglyseen,bymenaswellaswomen,as
activeagentsofchange:thedynamicpromotersofsocialtransformationsthatcanalterthelivesofboth
womenandmen”.Moreover,hepointsoutthatanincreaseinwomen’sparticipationdoesnotonly
generateresultsforwomeningeneral—arewardonitsownmerit—butitalsoprovidessocialbenefits
aswomenareamajorinfluenceonsocialchange,innovationandthedevelopmentprocess(pp.201–2).
Innovation,indeed,isamatterofchangeinthelifeofindividuals,organisationsandinstitutions
drivennotonlybyscientificandtechnologicaladvancesbutalsobysocietalexpectations,valuesand
demands(Phillsetal.2008;Cajaiba-Santana2014;vanderHaveandRubalcaba2016). However,
innovationhashadacriticalandsometimescontroversialimpactonoursociety(Godin2015).What
makes the difference is its finalisation and the socio-economic and environmental impact that it
producesonthefabricofoursocietyandthephysicalenvironmentinwhichwelive(Edlerand
Fagerberg 2017). Innovation as an end and not a means should promote a change that reduces
inequalitiesandpromoteswell-beingasstatedintheSustainableDevelopmentGoals(SDGs),which
are“auniversalcalltoactiontoendpoverty,protecttheplanetandensurethatallpeopleenjoypeace
andprosperity”(UnitedNations2015).
Indetail,accordingtoSDG5:Achievegenderequalityandempowerallwomenandgirls,womenare
boththetargetthatpolicymakersandinstitutionsshouldpayattentionto,throughinnovativereforms
andpoliciesaimedatreducingtheinequalitiesthatexistatalllevels(seeTable1),andalsothemeans
bywhichtofosterinnovationandthedevelopmentofoursociety(UNWomen2017).
Table1.Goal5:Achievegenderequalityandempowerallwomenandgirls.
5.aUndertakereformstogivewomenequalrightstoeconomicresources,aswellasaccesstoownershipand
controloverlandandotherformsofproperty,financialservices,inheritanceandnaturalresources,in
accordancewithnationallaws.
5.bEnhancetheuseofenablingtechnology,inparticularinformationandcommunicationstechnology,to
promotetheempowermentofwomen.
5.cAdoptandstrengthensoundpoliciesandenforceablelegislationforthepromotionofgenderequalityand
theempowermentofallwomenandgirlsatalllevels.
Inlightofthesepropositions,thiseditorialdevelopsintwodirections.
Thefirstintroducesthereadertothemoregeneralthemeoftherelationshipsbetweengender
conditionsandeconomicdevelopmentandarguesthatgenderinequalityleadstoanetloss,both
economicallyandintermsofqualityoflife(KlasenandLamanna2009;Duflo2012).Notonlydoes
genderinequalityhaveeconomicandsocialeffectsonwomenbutalsothecommunityasawhole
(Klasen2002;KabeerandNatali2013). Accordingly,eliminatinggenderinequalitycouldleadtoa
radicalchangewithintheglobaleconomy,notonlyintermsofeconomicgrowthandGDPbutalso,
Adm.Sci.2019,9,64;doi:10.3390/admsci9030064 1 www.mdpi.com/journal/admsci