Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to explore the gendered nature of interactions in mixed sex Canadian corporate annual report (CAR) photographs. Design/methodology/approach – Quantitative content analysis of 106 CAR photographs is performed to evaluate, at the level of the photograph,...

Purpose – The purpose of this exploratory paper is to theorise and examine gender differences in the impact of financial capital on Chinese firms' growth, and investigate the role of guanxi (connections and networks) in the process of obtaining finance. Design/methodology/approach – A...

Purpose – This editorial aims to introduce the special issue on meritocracy, difference and choice. Design/methodology/approach – The first part is a commentary on key issues in the study of the notions of meritocracy, difference and choice. The second part presents the six papers in the...

Purpose – This paper is based on the experiences of 31 women who have recently left partner roles within an international management consultancy firm. The purpose of this paper is to explore discursively their perceptions of choice within their decisions to leave. Design/methodology/approach...

Purpose – The aim of this paper is to explore how an elite group of senior women in banking represent and describe their understanding and experience of the role of meritocracy, within the context of their own career. Design/methodology/approach – Semi‐structured interviews were conducted...

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to explore how women in senior management draw on discourses of merit and special contribution in making sense of the contradictions and tensions they experience in their working lives. It has a particular focus on how women explain possible experiences...

Purpose – Drawing upon notions of agency and the body, the purpose of this paper is to examine the nature of agency as a gendered concept through a consideration of women sex‐workers. Specifically, the paper analyses how far women sex‐workers may be regarded as social agents. It then...

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to challenge Hakim's work‐centred category and empirically tests its applicability in a professional service firm. Design/methodology/approach – The information was gathered through 19 in‐depth interviews with women in an international consulting...

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to examine the usefulness of Hakim's preference theory in the understanding of the attitudes of women retail senior managers and directors towards their career and non‐work lives. It provides a critical analysis of the main tenets of preference theory...