Networking towards (in)equality: Women entrepreneurs in technology

Deploying a multidimensional framework focusing on individual, organizational and societal factors, we investigate gendering practices through which women entrepreneurs become disadvantaged in the technology sector. Through qualitative fieldwork, we focus on women entrepreneurs' experiences networking to access valuable entrepreneurial resources and examine the role of technology incubators and accelerators in facilitating this access. These organizations have the potential to mitigate gender inequities by adopting gender‐aware practices such as increasing access to networks and resources that might otherwise be unreachable for women technology entrepreneurs. Focusing simultaneously on the complex intersections of networking, organizational practices at incubators and accelerators, and institutionalized gender norms in society, we outline how different gendering practices work separately and in tandem to marginalize women technology entrepreneurs. We observe that these organizations engage in ‘gender neutral’ recruitment practices and promote transactional networking which result in the replication rather than eradication of gender inequality. Moreover, organizational attempts to address ‘gender issues’ as they relate to technology entrepreneurs re‐inscribe rather than disrupt societal gender norms. Our research offers new insights for understanding the interrelated individual, organizational and societal factors contributing to gender inequality in technology entrepreneurship and provokes discussion on the possibilities for social change.     

A New Approach to Hazardous Materials Transportation Risk Analysis: Decision Modeling to Identify Critical Variables

We take a novel approach to analyzing hazardous materials transportation risk in this research. Previous studies analyzed this risk from an operations research (OR) or quantitative risk assessment (QRA) perspective by minimizing or calculating risk along a transport route. Further, even though the majority of incidents occur when containers are unloaded, the research has not focused on transportation-related activities, including container loading and unloading. In this work, we developed a decision model of a hazardous materials release during unloading using actual data and an exploratory data modeling approach. Previous studies have had a theoretical perspective in terms of identifying and advancing the key variables related to this risk, and there has not been a focus on probability and statistics-based approaches for doing this. Our decision model empirically identifies the critical variables using an exploratory methodology for a large, highly categorical database involving latent class analysis (LCA), loglinear modeling, and Bayesian networking. Our model identified the most influential variables and countermeasures for two consequences of a hazmat incident, dollar loss and release quantity , and is one of the first models to do this. The most influential variables were found to be related to the failure of the container. In addition to analyzing hazmat risk, our methodology can be used to develop data-driven models for strategic decision making in other domains involving risk.     

Does Futures Research have a corporate role?

The author suggests that Futures Research is an indispensible initial step in the Strategic Planning process. For various reasons, including executives' belief that futurism is not “businesslike”, it appears unwarranted to establish a Futures Research group independent of the Strategic Planning department. In view of the repeated and serious predictions of the demise of the corporation, what could be a better Futures Research project than to seek ways of reversing these forecasts?     

Connecting Print Patrons to Electronic Holdings with Shelf Dummies

After a two-year renovation, the Kent State University Music Library reopened as the Performing Arts Library. Before the closure, some serials were sent to the depository or reclassified within the library. In order to assist patrons browsing print journals or searching for articles in the stacks, library staff created shelf dummies detailing print and electronic holdings information as well as indexing for each title. Patron feedback has been positive, and the project has helped both library staff and patrons better understand accessibility and location of journals.     

Understanding Vulnerability: From Categories to Experiences of Young Congolese People in Uganda

This article problematises the ‘vulnerables’ category that the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees applies to groups of refugees. Drawing on 9 months’ qualitative research with young Congolese refugees in Uganda, it presents research subjects’ self‐identification and lived realities that do not correspond to the homogenous, fixed ‘vulnerables’ ideal. Moreover, it argues that the ‘vulnerables’ categorisation approach can provoke a number of counter‐productive effects, including a focus on symptoms rather than causes, inflated numbers of ‘vulnerables’ and undermining indigenous support structures. An alternative approach that interrogates and addresses the contextual and relational aspects of vulnerability is proposed.