Gendered perceptions of professional development in academia: evidence from a Ukrainian university

Small and medium enterprises (SMEs) play a significant role in income generation, job creation, poverty reduction and reducing income inequality of all countries, regardless of the level of development. Nevertheless, in developing countries, they are exposed to several challenges affecting their business operations and growth. Among others, access to external financing has been cited to be the most pressing challenge for SMEs in developing economies. The lack of accessibility has been indicated to result from the deficiencies observed from both financial institutions and SMEs. Further, it has been discovered that from the SMEs’ perspective, gender, among other entrepreneurial characteristics, has a role in accessing finance. This paper surveys a sample of 109 SMEs in the Democratic Republic of Congo not only to find what are the challenges faced in seeking finance, but also to investigate the extent to which gender impacts access to finance. The evidence gathered shows that finance is really constraining, there are more rejections than approvals of finance due to the lack of collateral, high interest rates and the inability of SMEs to develop attractive and bankable projects. With regards to gender, the findings were somehow assuring in the sense that when both women and men apply for external finance, they stand the same chances of accessing finance. Recommendations were established to all the actors. SMEs must put more effort into regulating their businesses in order to reduce their risks and build strong relationships with lenders. Financial institutions should not only reconsider the interest rates as they were perceived to be extremely high, but also train SMEs to be “more bankable”. Lastly, the Government should implement policies to support firms and render the business environment more appealing for both SMEs and financial institutions.

Financial risk tolerance refers to the amount of risk a person is willing to take when making financial decisions. Previous researchers have found that demographic factors when used as independent variables to have an effect on the risk tolerance behavior of investors. Within this study, emphasis was given to gender and age within a sample of South African investors. Not much research on risk tolerance and demographics has been done in South Africa. Hence, an opportunity for further research within this field emerged. This study aimed to contribute towards the accurate risk profiling of South African investors based on their level of risk tolerance considering their gender and age. This study can be used as a future forecasting tool for investment companies to predict risk tolerance levels based on gender and age levels. Results from this study correspond to previous studies where male investors are more risk tolerant than female investors. A statistical difference was also found between male and female investors within the age categories of 35-49 years and investors older than 50 years. All age categories were found to be more risk tolerant for investors older than 50 years based on the binary regression.

This paper reports on research that was undertaken to determine the problems experienced by deputy principals in secondary schools, and the extent to which these problems were experienced. Although some research was conducted on the deputy principalship, no research treats the problems that deputy principals experience upon appointment comprehensively. An understanding of the problems experienced by secondary school deputy principals is a necessary precursor of an induction program to address the problems. A quantitative approach which was underpinned by the post-positivist paradigm was adopted. In order to determine the extent to which the problems were experienced, a survey was conducted among one hundred and fifty seven secondary school deputy principals in the North West Province. The participants came from a diverse context of rural, township and urban schools. The deputy principals who participated in the study included those who were newly appointed (one to three years of service) and those who were experienced (more than three years of service). Data were analyzed by means of descriptive statistics such as frequencies, means and percentages. There were no significant differences in the responses of both newly-appointed and experienced deputy principals. The results revealed that deputy principals experienced administrative, financial management, work pressure, personal and physical resources problems. In an attempt to address the problems identified, a context-specific induction program is recommended. The induction program should be an on-going program of professional development and should preferably include specific aims, action steps to be taken to achieve the aims that are set and measures to evaluate progress.