This is a repository copy of Gender, authentic leadership and identity: analysis of women leaders' autobiographies.

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to contribute to the developing literature on entrepreneurship and identity by exploring the multidimensionality of older (50+) British women entrepreneurs’ identity. By using positionality as a lens, greater insight into the complexity of the lived multiple identities of older women entrepreneurs is explored. Design/methodology/approach A total of 12 in-depth qualitative interviews took place throughout the UK seeking to capture the various experiences of how older women engage with intersecting discourses surrounding enterprise culture and ageing whilst constructing their identities. Findings Overall, findings evidence the outcomes of these intersecting dimensions are largely positive and demonstrate the life enhancing benefits of these overlaps. Whilst tension was evidenced between age and how these women entrepreneurs perceive their entrepreneurial identities, as well as some constraints between identity as “mother” and “entrepreneur”, overall synergy was found between the intersection of older women entrepreneurs’ social identities and their entrepreneurial identity. It must be noted, however, that this synergy was heavily reliant on context and stage of life for these women. Originality/value This paper challenges the traditional discourse of entrepreneurship, which produces a homogenous view of entrepreneurs and omits key historical and social variables in the process of identity formation. The current paper adds to increasing calls to develop more sophisticated ways of measuring and understanding entrepreneurship and its impacts. The authors echo calls throughout the most recent literature to move away from the agency agenda and pursue lines of enquiry that examine entrepreneurship as a process in contexts that are underpinned by both agency and external factors.

Technology transfer offices (TTOs) play a key role in helping universities commercialize research and distribute knowledge. Nonetheless, there remains an incomplete understanding of the communication, which takes place between academics, industry partners, and TTO staff. The aim of this article is to examine, with the use of sense-making theory, strategies used by TTO employees as they work with academics and industry partners to commer-cialize intellectual property. In order to achieve this aim, an ethno-graphic exploratory case study was undertaken at a university TTO. The collected information then became the basis for qual-itative interviews with TTO staff from 13 universities in Scotland. The study contributes to the sense-making theory by explaining how, during the commercialization conversations, TTO employ-ees can deliberately interrupt the sense-making process through "dumbing down." Our research introduces the TTO employee as a mediator and examines the role of the TTO staff in facilitating the sense-making process. The findings illustrate how someone who is not an expert in the field can add to the sense-making process. The study suggests that TTO employees intentionally engage in a "dumbing down process" to make complicated conversations easy to understand.

Whether researchers are using interviews, focus groups, or textual analysis, large amounts of data are produced. It can be daunting to manage and analyse the many thousands of words produced. The purpose of this chapter is to provide suggestions on how to move beyond describing what participants have said, to analysing the data. In this chapter researchers will learn more about the most common approaches to analysing qualitative data, namely, Grounded Theory, thematic and template analysis, discourse analysis and hermeneutics. Situations where each approach may be more suitable are suggested. By the end of the chapter readers should be able to identify which approach is appropriate to their data set. In addition, readers will be able to undertake robust analysis of their qualitative data.

The nature and volume of qualitative data can be overwhelming for researchers. This chapter provides useful steps for organising, managing and analysing qualitative data. Several techniques for analysing qualitative data are discussed in this chapter with examples to enable users to conduct their own analysis. The techniques include grounded theory, thematic analysis, template analysis, narrative analysis, textual analysis, discourse analyses, content analysis and hermeneutics. Validity and reliability issues to consider when analysing qualitative data are equally discussed. The chapter also considers technological tools available for organising, managing and retrieving qualitative data.