The concept of Digital Transformation is characterized by the integration and impact of digital technologies on organizations as well as on societal and individual levels (Vial, 2021). However, while digitalization efforts can be valuable and provide new opportunities and benefits, they can also result in drawbacks related to digital products and services not being accessible to people with various types of disabilities (Jankowska, 2020). Despite the EU's ambitious digital strategy aimed at eliminating virtual borders, enhancing connectivity and accessibility, and ensuring harmonized consumer rights for online content across Europe (European Commission, 2023a), Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in Sweden encounter significant challenges in practically implementing accessibility measures (European Commission, 2023b). While the digital transition is central to Europe's agenda (European Commission, 2023c) and digital accessibility is receiving growing academic attention (Mack et al., 2021), research is scant on SMEs' challenges in implementing digital accessibility in practice. Thus, this study aims to address this gap by mapping EU digital rights and examine their implementation in Sweden. In particular, the study focuses on EU regulations on digitalization, particularly the European Accessibility Act (Directive 2019/882) and its Swedish counterpart on the Accessibility of Certain Products and Services (Act 2023:254). 

To investigate the research problem, a mixed-method design was used, consisting of analyzing and comparing the EU directive with Swedish law and conducting empirical data collection, including a survey and, afterward, semi-structured interviews. The initial survey sent to companies gathered insights from 15 respondents. Five were micro-companies, two were medium-sized, and eight responses came from large companies. The survey included questions regarding the companies' current implementation, navigation, and challenges in following and understanding the upcoming accessibility regulations.  

After the initial survey, qualitative semi-structured interviews were conducted with relevant stakeholders, totaling 10 interviews. These interviews included experts in organizations focused on different accessibility issues related to specific disabilities, such as blindness. There were also interviews with accessibility experts in the public and private sectors, including accessibility leads working in the banking and insurance industries. The interviews further explored topics from the survey, such as the implementation, navigation, and challenges of the new accessibility laws, as well as issues related to the accessibility of digital products and services and the challenges users may encounter.   

An initial analysis of the survey results highlighted that many of the responding companies feel prepared to follow the new regulations. Furthermore, companies directly affected by the law, such as medium and large-sized businesses, indicated that they have taken steps to integrate consideration of these laws into their day-to-day business operations. None of the responding companies stated that their products and services fully met the requirements of the accessibility regulation, while 33.3% said they largely met the requirements and 20% said they partially did.  The remaining respondents said they were either unaware of or unaffected by the accessibility law. However, the self-reported data varied regarding companies' knowledge of the Swedish law and EU directive, ranging from "not at all familiar" to "very familiar". In terms of challenges, the most common difficulties selected by respondents when it came to implementing and complying with the new accessibility law related to cost, understanding the legislation/functional requirements, and a lack of employee knowledge. In terms of offering training in accessibility, most companies answered that they did not do that (73%), and only two of the 15 responding companies had been thinking about or had applied for exceptions to the accessibility regulations, such as due to disproportionate burden.

The interviews revealed that education and training were important aspects for developing accessible products and services. This included both companies needing internal expertise but also education from a user perspective, such as the need to learn how to use assistive technologies. The interviews also highlighted that the larger companies have been integrating accessibility measures into their services for a long time, though the new regulations have prompted more resources into it. A common challenge mentioned by participants was related to limited expertise and difficulties interpreting the law. Experts specializing in different areas of disability also noted that the new regulations can be vague and overlook specific needs, such as those of individuals with combined disabilities like deafblindness. For example, some regulations may address deaf or blind users separately but not those with both impairments. Lastly, universal and user-centered design approaches were emphasized as important to develop accessible digital products and services.

The research findings provide insight into companies' challenges in implementing accessibility into their digital products and services while also highlighting flaws within current accessibility regulations affecting their effectiveness in improving the usability of digital technologies for users with disabilities. As such, this research provides important considerations for future policies that aim to improve digitalization rights.  

Rapid development of digital technologies has stemmed profound changes in the society, positioning the ICT sector as a key driver and contributor. This sector, including education, is however characterized by a gender gap, which is problematic in the light of the increasing demand for digital competence and the ability to move towards a sustainable egalitarian society. In this study, we argue for a need to explore the concept of ICT in higher education. This involves assessing the success of educational programs in attracting women and exploring the perceptions of female students regarding their academic environment. With a specific focus on Sweden, through a survey involving 82 respondents, we provide evidence on motivations and perceptions of women regarding leading choices on pursuing ICT higher education. We propose a holistic approach to studying gender representation and inclusion in ICT higher education, with a focus on women's perceptions, experiences, and suggestions.

Mainstream representations of entrepreneurship are often informed by masculinity as a tacit norm, and that women’s and men’s entrepreneurship is often compared without a deeper gender analysis, which typically leads to depiction of women as less entrepreneurial and deficient when compared to their male counterparts (Ahl, 2006; Ahl and Marlow, 2012). Digital technologies, entrepreneurship and gender are deeply intertwined, and so, in order to understand and challenge gender inequality within entrepreneurship, it is pivotal to render visible the links between entrepreneurship and ICT and to challenge gender inequality within the ICT field. There is a commonly held assertion that the ICT sector, including education, is male dominated (Buse, 2018). This discourse is built on a rather narrow and simplified view of ICT profession, its use and design. Digitalization has introduced profound systemic societal changes, transforming traditional sectors and work practices (Bradley, 2017), inflicting structural changes on what ICT profession and education is. Additionally, it has given rise to novel, non-standard employment forms e.g., influencers, which is mostly dominated by women. While we recognize that dominating discourses are built on a view of a systematic underrepresentation of women in ICT related education, we posit that this is not a universal and homogeneous issue. There are some ICT education programs which attract women, in some instances more than men. The overarching aim of this study is to explore the relationship between gender, entrepreneurship and digitalization. Specifically, to explore why women choose a higher education in ICT and how they perceive and relate to entrepreneurship as a natural progression after graduation. Understanding of this intersection is an important contribution as gender equality in the fields of entrepreneurship and ICT are pivotal for a more egalitarian and socially sustainable society. To understand this issue, an online survey was distributed to all female students in ICT higher education programs. For the selection of the study programs, we followed Clear and Parrish (2021) who delimit computing education to the following programs: computer engineering, computer science, cybersecurity, information systems, information technology, software engineering and data science. The survey was designed and administered in two languages: English and Swedish, so students had the possibility to choose the language they preferred. After a three-week survey period, a total of 82 out of 276 students responded to the survey. Preliminary results from the survey reveal several trends within the studied programs. The survey included questions on the motives behind the choice of the program, perceptions of planned progression after one’s studies and perceptions of gender balance and inclusion in the program. For example, regardless of the number of women enrolled in a program, all programs show a trend of students disagreeing or being neutral that the gender balance in their program is good. Moreover, regardless of the number of women enrolled in the programs most respondents maintain that the gender balance in their program is not good. Overall, the survey results indicate that most participants either disagreed that the gender balance in their program was good or had no opinion about it. The contributions of our study are several. Our study makes it possible to theorize the drivers and motives of women that choose ICT programs and what working life outcomes are the most attractive for them. Moreover, our study allows us to theorize women students’ views and perceptions of gender in ICT education, for example which of the methods for increasing gender balance in ICT education are perceived as effective. Thus, our paper’s result shows what factors outside and within ICT education are motivating for women, and what measures could be taken to continue working with gender equality and inclusion in ICT education. 

Purpose: This paper aims to add to the theorization of the gender dynamic in rural areas by investigating the motives of women who join their family firm (or their spouse's family firm) and thereby defy the demographic trend of rural flight. The context of this study is the depopulation of rural areas with the closing of basic services and relocation of the younger population, and educated women in particular, to urban areas. Consequently, rural family businesses risk failing to find successors and suffering forced closure or relocation. The empirical site of the study is rural family firms in Sweden, a context characterized by a high level of gender equality in legislation and culture but gender-conservative business structures in rural regions.

Design/methodology/approach: The empirical case in this paper builds on a qualitative study of nine (9) life course narratives of women entrepreneurs in a rural region of Southern Sweden who have returned to rural areas to join their family business. The authors follow the view established by gender scholars that women are active agents in navigating their lives, and their life story narratives offer insight into the considerations that inform their choice to stay or return to rural locations. In Sweden, the setting for the study, gender equality is widely supported by legislation, policy and institutional frameworks and popular understanding of gender relations. In contrast to the gender-progressive policies of Sweden at large, women's entrepreneurship in rural regions of Sweden tends to follow traditional gender hierarchies and face similar constraints as in rural areas of other countries. The juxtaposition of these competing sets of ideals makes Sweden an important and interesting place to study and draw insights from the experiences of women entrepreneurs.

Findings: The findings reveal that women who choose to join rural family firms view them primarily in a positive light and see this choice as aligned with their need for professional flexibility and assertiveness, rewarding relationships, and a calm, secure, well-balanced life. Theoretically, the study implies that women choosing to engage in rural family firms seek non-material benefits, such as work–life balance and social support, and may be driven in part by a sense of psychological ownership that extends to the rural community.

Originality/value: The findings provide novel insights on women as active agents in navigating their lives and the intrinsic (e.g. alignment of personal values) and extrinsic (e.g. community support) motives that inform their decisions. The study also raises questions regarding how women perceive themselves as “fitting in” to rural settings and to what extent the sense of security within these settings that the women describe may be contingent upon factors such as their families' embeddedness within the community as well as their conformity to the local social norms.

The purpose of this paper is to add to the broader field of feminist organization and entrepreneurship scholarship by introducing and theorizing girlhood as a distinct enterprising femininity. More specifically, we investigate how girlhood, now enjoying a prominent role in commercial culture, impacts the relationship between enterprising self and femininity due to girlhood's many non-entrepreneurial features. We draw on the scholarship from the field of cultural studies to present the core politico-aesthetical categories, used to express girlhood as a distinct form of femininity. Empirically, we present and analyze an illustrative case of two large women-only professional networks that use girlhood and enterprising as their core message to their audiences. Our contributions render visible and provide a theoretical framework for studying girlhood as enterprising femininity, and add to the theorization of gendered and intersectional tensions and struggles between the market pressures to conform to the prevailing ideals of individualized success and the political ambition to challenge the status quo. More so, our theorization of girlhood as enterprising femininity allows us to raise question of what facets of femininity remain excluded - and thus in need of further theorization and critical feminist interventions - within the economic domain.

In this article we develop the analysis and the conceptualization of the relationship between play and work within the increasingly aestheticized working life, drawing on the scholarship of Jacques Rancière and using images of playful office interiors as our empirical case. In doing so, we are able to add to the theorization of the uneasy relationship between the subordination of employee imagination and self to the agendas of the employer, typical of wage labor, and the strive for heteronomy and refiguring of the social order, characteristic of play.

The overarching purpose of this article is to add to the theorization of the Anthropocene in organization studies by investigating how long-term planetary concerns can be better accounted for in organizing. To do so, the article draws on the scholarship of Jacques Ranciere to show how the dichotomy of nature and culture shapes the dominant framings of organizing, and to outline premises for artistic, scholarly and political interventions into the status quo that could aid the process of making our entanglements with the geo-biophysical politically viable. The article concludes that the Anthropocene can add to a renewal of organizational and political decision-making processes through a radical rethinking of the liberal humanist separation of nature and culture and related concepts such as democracy and political subjecthood.