Women and Technologies: Towards a Gendered Profile
of Digital Do-It-Yourself Workers?
Carolina Guerini, Eliana Minelli and Aurelio Ravarini
Dipartimento in Gestione Integrata d’Impresa, Università Carlo Cattaneo – Liuc, Castellanza, Italy
Keywords: Digital Do-It-Yourself, Women, Didiyer’s Profile, Expert Amateur, Digital Literacy.
Abstract: Though yet partly unexplored, Digital Do-It-Yourself (DiDIY) is both an objective phenomenon that can be
investigated from the point of view of its output and a subjective phenomenon that shapes individual behaviors
and can be analyzed from the perspective of competences, motivations and social relationships. DiDIY is a
complex socio-technical phenomenon that heavily impacts on organizations. Following recent research paths
aimed at defining the subjective side of DiDIY, this research focuses on the gendered DiDIYer’s profile.
Female DiDIYers’ personal characteristics seem to confirm previous studies dealing with the general
DiDIYer’s profile (Guerini and Minelli, 2018). They are digitally literate and aware of their skills, curious
and eager to innovate. Proud and conscious of their potential contribution to the improvement of their lives
and their workplace, open to professional and personal challenges, they qualify themselves as expert amateur,
not just as pure technology adopters. Female DiDIYers are involved in organic and participative cultures and
their roles are characterised by knowledge sharing and creation, also through communities of practice. Female
DiDIY is concentrated in complex roles, which link the organization to the external environment, being
intrinsically autonomous in their expression and far from clerical activities.
1 INTRODUCTION
Digital Do-It-Yourself (DiDIY) is an approach to
carry out activities aimed at autonomously creating,
modifying or maintaining objects and services. A
DiDIYer is any individual adopting this approach by
exploiting digital technology (DT) that reduce (or
remove) the need of an expert to carry out such tasks
(Mari, 2014). For example, a DiDIYer can be a
worker in a manufacturing firm, carrying out
prototyping activities without asking support of
engineering firms, using 3D printers.
More broadly, the term DiDIY describes the
phenomenon of the worldwide diffusion of such
approach in the socio-economic environment. It
stems from the convergence of multiple factors: the
wide availability of digital tools, a general diffusion
of a deeper knowledge and mastery of ICT among
large portions of the population and a large
accessibility of databases through open online
communities (Digital DIY, 2017).
One can see DiDIY as an objective phenomenon,
that can be investigated from the point of view of its
output (e.g. tools, products or collaboration
structures). At the same time it is a mindset (related
to a culture of production and consumption), hence a
subjective phenomenon that shapes individual
behaviors and can be analyzed from the perspective
of competences, motivations, social relationships.
These two views of DiDIY are intertwined and
mutually influencing. Thus, DiDIY as a complex
“socio-technical” phenomenon has a heavy impact on
organizations. Though yet partly unexplored, DiDIY
is getting an increasing interest in the scientific
literature. Some principles receive a large support and
are exposed in relevant institutional websites
(http://www.didiy.eu).
We build on such principles to investigate the
DiDIY phenomenon where the DiDIYer is a woman.
Gender implications related with IT adoption and use
are not a new research subject (Wajcman, 2007;
Roomi, 2009), but we are interested in investigating
whether the diffusion of a DiDIY mindset can find a
particularly effective domain amongst women.
In this paper we follow the research stream about
the subjective side of DiDIY, focusing on the
gendered DiDIYer’s profile and investigating the
characteristics that differentiate the female DiDIYer’s
profile from the ungendered one. In the next sections
we review the literature related to DiDIY and to the
186
Guerini, C., Minelli, E. and Ravarini, A.
Women and Technologies: Towards a Gendered Profile of Digital Do-It-Yourself Workers?.
DOI: 10.5220/0006933001860193
In Proceedings of the 10th International Joint Conference on Knowledge Discovery, Knowledge Engineering and Knowledge Management (IC3K 2018) - Volume 3: KMIS, pages 186-193
ISBN: 978-989-758-330-8
Copyright © 2018 by SCITEPRESS – Science and Technology Publications, Lda. All rights reserved

use of digital technology according to a gendered
perspective. We then discuss the general implications
of the DiDIY phenomenon on the organizational
change. Based on this theoretical background, we
introduce the empirical study and finally discuss the
evidences collected from about 600 answers to a
questionnaire, leading to a preliminary view of
women’s approach to digital technologies and
DiDIY.
2 THE DiDIY PHENOMENON
The DiDIY phenomenon is the recent evolution of the
broadly studied phenomenon of DIY, or Do-It-
Yourself (Edwards, 2006). Several scholars in the
past ten years have noted that the progress in digital
technology has supported the development of
autonomy in performing tasks of any type, as well as
the rise of an “entrepreneurial” attitude in individuals
with very different interests and background
(Hoftijzer, 2009; Kuznetsov and Paulos, 2010).
More recently, the term “Maker” (Anderson,
2012) gained wide popularity as a label to
characterize individuals, who, in addition to such
mindset, exploit the interaction within communities
of peers to accelerate the development of skills
through a shared approach to problem-solving,
supported by the use of social-networking platforms,
such as blogs, wikis, and any other social media
available (Buxmann and Hinz, 2013). However,
“Makers” usually refers to communities of subjects
involved in manufacturing activities. On the contrary,
there is evidence that DiDIY, as a mindset and as an
activity, can indeed take place within existing work-
places belonging to any industry, e.g. in hospitals, in
retail companies (Ravarini and Strada, 2018).
The research carried out in several organizational
contexts led to isolate a set of properties characteriz-
ing the profile of a DiDIY worker: job attitude,
autonomy, failure positive, multidisciplinary,
playfulness, anti-consumerism behaviour, computa-
tional thinking (Cremona and Ravarini, 2016).
A scholarly work by Guerini and Minelli (Guerini
and Minelli, 2018) researched these fundamental
traits of a DiDIYer in the context of network
marketing. This paper is focused on NMDSOs
(Network Marketing Direct Selling Organizations)
where the DiDIYers are networkers. Guerini and
Minelli’s exploratory study suggests a series of items
to be considered in defining the subjective side of
DiDIY, i.e. the DiDIYers’ profile, that we outline in
the following paragraphs.
The drivers that motivate networkers to behave as
DiDIYers can be described as an internal force
(curiosity, intention to take on a challenge, a desire to
experiment creatively) or as a momentary thrill, thus
qualifying this DiDIYer’s mindset as passionate. The
community vision largely overcomes the interest in
individual benefits: the autonomy of direct
salespeople and the existence of downlines (or
communities of practice) encourage individuals to
exploit unique competences and be the creator of the
environment. Performance effects awareness and
performance measurement are, on the contrary,
neglected by networkers, though collaboration,
cohesion and mutual reinforcement are important in
network marketing culture, and DT is considered one
of the means that guarantees all that through
connectivity. On the other hand, it is the community
appraisal of the individual role embedded in network
marketing culture that feeds motivation and favours
the adoption of a DiDIY-like mindset. Information
technology is increasingly used by personnel engaged
in network marketing activities also as a means to
encourage collective action in support of the
advancement of an ideology or idea (Oh et al., 2013).
In this sense community-building, and action-
oriented messages (Lovejoy and Saxton, 2012) seems
to pertain to an ‘ideology of sharing’ in that network
marketers consider this activity much more as a
typical way of life rather than as an alternative
distribution model for goods and services (Guerini
and Minelli, 2016).
2.1 Gendered Technology
The joint consideration of gender and technology is at
the heart of this research project. The central premise
of feminist techno science is that people and artefacts
co-evolve: the materiality of technology affords or
inhibits particular gender/power relations, such as
gender division of labour. It foregrounds the need to
investigate the ways in which women’s identities,
needs and priorities are being reconfigured together
with digital technologies also in relation to different
groups and diverse real-world locations (Wajcman,
2007; Anwar et al., 2017). Despite women’s massive
consumption of new media, Internet and social
networks do not transform every user into an active
producer, and they do not include every woman into
the network society. The potential for empowerment
offered by ICTs can be realized through technical
skills because gender imbalance in technical expertise
turns out to be an important obstacle to full inclusion
into the digital society and to enjoy the opportunities
it opens up (Wajcman, 2007).
Women and Technologies: Towards a Gendered Profile of Digital Do-It-Yourself Workers?
187

In the organisational context, the relationship
between gender and technology is still complex
(Eriksson-Zetterquist, 2007) because of women’s
vertical and horizontal segregation. Technology has
been always associated to men since its diffusion after
World War II. Moreover, women who try to escape
glass ceiling phenomena through self-employment
and entrepreneurship in the ICT sector face
hindrances in the access to technological and social
capital (Halford and Savage, 2010).
Recent studies focus on how technologies are
associated with the crystallization of social relations
of different kinds, which endure and foster the
production and accumulation of practices and
activities of various kinds (Halford and Savage, 2010)
giving rise to “the particular knowledge/power
relations that establish the hegemonic norms of
gender … and technology in particular contexts”
(Butler, 2004, p. 216).
These aspects couple with the issue of access to
technological and social capital, which is critical to
the development of technological businesses. In
particular, the literature on women entrepreneurs
stresses their lack of social capital as an impediment
to expanding their businesses. Some scholars (Roomi,
2009) observe that the production of social capital is
influenced by a strict gender labour-division.
In brief, even if the debate on the relation between
technology and gender is lively, and the concerns
about the inclusion of women in the technological
context are steady, research in this domain doesn’t
focus attention on the role of those women that create,
modify or maintain objects and services based on
digital technologies, being a worker or, eventually, a
customer and a co-creator.
2.2 The Research Questions
The study aims at investigating the characteristics of
female DiDIYers, and in particular their personal
traits, roles, goals and mindsets. The investigation of
their work environment takes on a particular
importance in shaping their mindset. Thus the
research questions are:
 is there a female approach to digital technology
and DiDIY?
 are there personal and organizational (i.e.
workplace) characteristics that impact on
women’s attitude towards DiDIY?
 what is the female DiDIYers’ profile and
mindset?
3 SAMPLE, METHODOLOGY
AND RESEARCH TOOLS
The study involved a sample of women working in
the Municipality of Milan and its agencies, at LIUC
University (a small University located in North Italy)
or associated to a well-known female membership
corporation (Valore D).
The Municipality of Milan is one of the largest
local public administrations in Italy. It employs
14,478 employees (as of 31 December 2016), among
them 64% are women and 5% work in its agencies.
Nevertheless only 38% women cover managerial
roles, revealing the persistence of a glass ceiling
phenomenon. Its organizational structure is a modern
bureaucracy involved in an important digital change
process. The University is a non-state entity focused
on the teaching of managerial disciplines.
Administrative staff is predominantly composed of
women (73,7%), while men prevail in the academic
staff: among them just 30,2% are women. Valore D is
the most relevant Italian Association whose mission
is to promote women’s leadership in the corporate
world. It aims at increasing women’s representation
in top positions in major Italian companies through
tangible and concrete actions. Their members are
represented by about 150 large companies. It is
significant that the Association's headquarters are at
the premises of the Talent Garden, a global network
of digital innovators.
For the purposes of the research the most effective
tool of analysis was an on-line survey because it
allowed the collection of a large amount of data
overcoming time and distance problems.
The questionnaire developed for the on-line
survey was organised in five thematic macro-areas
concerning personal references, professional
experience, digital literacy, attitudes towards digital
technologies and approach to DiDIY.
Women were invited to participate in the survey
by e-mail. Data collection took place from April to
July 2017, and a large amount of responses was
obtained. On the whole, the survey gathered 591
questionnaires; 492 filled in by women working in the
public sector, specifically in the Municipality of
Milan. Even if the sample is not statistically
representative, it provides a meaningful picture of
women’s skills, attitudes and expectations towards
digital technologies and DiDIY within the
Municipality of Milan.
The results of the survey were analysed through
quantitative methods.
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Responses were statistically treated in different
ways, according to their nature (i.e. numbers,
categorical variables and ordinal variables).
4 DATA ANALYSIS
4.1 Profile and Mindset of the Sample
The sample comprises 591 Italian women, 83%
working at the Municipality of Milan. On average,
they are 49 years old, ranging from 25 to 64. The great
majority of them (69%) was born in Lombardy. Their
education level is highly differentiated: 44% of the
sample has a university degree (44%), 37% a
technical diploma, 12% a high school diploma.
Besides, some of them (14%) declare to participate
actively in some associations.
The job roles are diversified, both the function
and the hierarchical level. Among the most frequent
positions, 58% are employed in administrative roles,
16% in Human Resource Management and 13% in
Operations. Most of them (69%) work in a large
organization (more than 250 employees and 50
million turnover), which implies that they use to work
in a complex environment. Moreover, women
comprised in the sample generally work in team
(78%) and refer to a community of practice (35%).
Notwithstanding the complexity of the work
environment, their job context is mainly characterised
by informal coordination mechanisms. In particular
informal communication prevails (84%), followed by
the definition of the objectives to be achieved (42%).
On average the respondents rate their digital skills
2.8 out of 5, with 3 as median value. On the whole
they perceive themselves as moderately expert.
Most respondents acquired their digital skills
through field experience (56%), 21% are self-taught,
and only 13% had digital training. Thus they are
mainly self-motivated in developing their digital
skills. Hobbies and games are the main fields of
application of digital skills (18%), followed by
professional use of social media to coordinate
collaborators (8%) and marketing purposes (4%). It is
interesting to notice that not only women that apply
their digital competences for professional purposes
(use of social media in management, website
building, development of applications), but also those
who apply their digital skills for game purposes
reveal higher digital skills than average (3.2 out of 5).
Also in this female sample gamification plays an
important function in motivating people to acquire
digital skills (Hamari and Koivisto, 2015).
Women’s approach to digital technologies is
strongly characterised by assiduity, curiosity, aware-
ness, trust and reliance, whereas fear and constraint are
weaker. A factor analysis was carried out and revealed
a two-component solution (60% total variance explain-
ed, Varimax rotation). The components represent two
opposing attitudes towards digital technologies,
namely positive and negative attitudes (table 1).
Table 1: Rotated component matrix of attitudes towards
digital technologies.
Component
positive
negative
Pleasure
0.872
Passion
0.866
Curiosity
0.835
Assiduity
0.78
Innovativeness
0.769
Familiarity
0.768
Awareness
0.752
Reliance
0.648
Constraint
0.751
Fear
0.699
Adjustment
0.676
Then a regression analysis was carried out where
the dependent variables were the scores in the two
attitudes (positive and negative), and the predicting
variables included the age of the respondents, their
perceived level of digital skills and the size of the
organization they work in, considered an indicator of
organizational complexity. The results of the
regression analysis show that the perceived level of
digital skills is a predictor of a positive attitude,
whereas employee’s age and organizational
complexity are not significant (table 2).
Table 2: Regression coefficients for the positive attitude
towards digital technologies.
Coefficients
a
Unstand.
Coeff
Stand.
Coeff.
t
Sig.
B
Std.
Error
Beta
Constant
2.196
0.307
7.144
0.000
age
-0.007
0.004
-0.071
-1.680
0.094
digital
skills
0.497
0.036
0.556
13.890
0.000
org. size
0.035
0.087
0.017
0.402
0.688
a. Dependent Variable: positive attitude
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Following the results, organizations can pave the
way for digital transformation through employees’
digital skill reinforcement, almost regardless of the
average age of staff. This is quite important,
considering the need of organizations and public
administrations to successfully manage digital
change and the issue of workforce ageing.
Moreover, the fear of making mistakes does not
hinder the search for innovative solutions through
digital technology: fear seems to boost
innovativeness along with curiosity, especially
among DiDIYers, signalling that digital
experimentation cannot be without fear of making
mistakes but it is supported by digital skills.
The applications most used for any purpose by
women are in order of importance WhatsApp, Excel
and Facebook. These applications are preferred
because of their expected benefits in terms of
efficiency (time saving and cost reduction) and
effectiveness (readiness and quality of results)
In any case, both in work and in social life, vis-à-
vis (traditional) relationships are preferred to
computer-mediated relationships (table 3). Human
contact remains a key component of effective
workplace relationships (Guerini and Minelli, 2018).
Table 3: Type of relationships preferred by women.
Context
Type of relationships
St.dev.
vis-à-vis
digital
technologies
work
55.5%
44.5%
19.9
social life
71.1%
28.9%
18.5
Women in the sample were also asked to indicate
their level of agreement (on a scale 1 to 4) to different
do-it-yourself (DIY) definitions. DIY is mostly
perceived as a “satisfaction” (3.7 out of 4), able to
develop skills and independence (3.3 out of 4), while
there is a low level of agreement (<1.6) on statements
defining DIY as “stuff for nerds”, “boring” or a
“waste of time”. The factor analysis carried out on the
results revealed a two-component solution (50% total
variance explained, Varimax rotation). The two
components are respectively usefulness and personal
and professional development (table4).
This result highlights how women perceive DIY
as a useful practice, able to develop personal
aspirations and professional skills.
Also for DiDIY women were asked to express
their level of agreement to some propositions defining
Table 4: Rotated component matrix of DIY perceptions.
Component
usefulness
develop-
ment
saves money
0.757
reduces waste
0.745
useful to find a job
0.633
combines technology and
art
0.554
a hobby
0.535
reassuring
0.478
a satisfaction
0.762
develops skills
0.727
helps to become
autonomous
0.691
realizes one's own
aspirations
0.551
this phenomenon. Women in the sample agree on
DiDIY as a fundamental tool for work, which
demonstrates an active use of technology (3.2 out of
4). Not only the respondents perceive the importance
of technology for their jobs but also, more generally,
“for the world”. DiDIY thus becomes an almost
salvific tool. In this case, all statements depreciating
DiDIY were rated lower that those supporting it.
4.2 DiDIYers’ Profile and Mindset
Among the respondents, a group of 38 women stands
out: those women have developed new digital
applications and in 32 cases they have realized them
too. Those female DiDIYers that are at the core of this
study. Slightly younger than the whole sample (48
years old), most DiDIYers were born in Lombardy
(58%) and as many as 60% have a degree or a higher
education level. The large majority (71%) is
employed in the Municipality of Milan, they use to
work in team (82%) and quite frequently refer to a
community of practice in their professional activity
(39%). Female DiDIYers perceive themselves as
experts (3.6 out of 5).
Comparing them with the whole sample, a higher
percentage of DiDIYers had specific training in
digital skills (21%), whereas 42% acquired their skills
thanks to field experience or is self-taught (18%).
Nonetheless, similarly to the whole sample, the most
part of them (60%) are self-motivated in developing
their digital skills, even at a higher level of skill.
However, in this DiDIYers’ sample the main purpose
of digital skills application is professional use (39%),
followed by apps development (26%) and website
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building (16%) whereas hobbies and games represent
only a marginal purpose.
Among DiDIYers, 16% is employed in the
Information Technology function and 18% in the
Marketing and Customer Care functions. That reveals
a first interesting result regarding the concentration of
DiDIYers: DiDIYers are not uniformly present in all
functions. The areas where women DiDIYers are
mostly present are those related to technology
(information technology and research & development)
or strictly connected to the external environment
(customer service and marketing). This outcome
suggests that some kinds of activities stimulate and
require a DiDIY attitude, in particular those connecting
the organization with its environment.
Depicting their approach to digital technologies in
their work and personal lives, women DiDIYers
evaluated awareness, curiosity and innovativeness
higher than the other items and feelings proposed and
higher than the scores of the whole sample as well. This
shows that awareness is an important indicator of
digital literacy and that - together with curiosity and
innovativeness - it represents a driver of expertise and
a motivator of digital improvement (Gallardo-
Echenique et al., 2015).
Moreover, passion and pleasure (respectively 3.7
and 3.6 out of 5) demonstrate that women DiDIYers
are not only technology adopters but above all expert
amateurs (Kuznetsov and Paulos, 2010). The factor
analysis carried out revealed a two-component solution
(68% total variance explained, Varimax rotation). The
components are represented in this case by the
meanings that the digital technologies take on for
female DiDIYers, namely innovation and reliability
(table 5). Thus, in this case the components are not
represented by dichotomic perception (positive and
negative) of the value of digital technologies as for the
Table 5: Rotated component matrix of women DiDIYers’
attitudes towards digital technologies.
Component
innovation
reliability
Innovativeness
0.863
Curiosity
0.851
Passion
0.825
Pleasure
0.795
Familiarity
0.507
Assiduity
0.881
Awareness
0.753
Adjustment
0.736
Reliance
0.600
whole sample, but by a deeper awareness of the impact
of digital technologies on their lives.
Notwithstanding their digital skills, women
DiDIYers’ propensity to vis-à-vis relationships is
similar to the whole sample both in work and social
life, pointing out that the human touch is predominant
in social life and cannot be replaced by virtual
relations (table 6).
Table 6: Type of relationships preferred by women.
Context
Type of relationships
St.dev
.
vis-à-vis
digital
technologies
work
55.8%
44.2%
21.0
social life
69.0%
31.0%
20.5
Most of them used software for the creation and
management of websites and blogs or for the
realization of digital videos; some also used 3D
printers and scanners, and a few made use of
electronic prototyping cards (such as Arduino,
RaspberryPi, etc.). In general, female DiDIYers think
that there is still a lot to do in the field of digital
applications for professional use (89%), in particular
for relational and technical purposes. In fact, 26% of
them developed, and in some cases even realised
applications devoted to the improvement of
coordination and collaboration, for control purposes
(26%), to improve efficiency (26%) and 11% to
improve effectiveness.
In their digital activities they are not motivated
just by curiosity or game: women DiDIYers are
pushed also by innovation, personal intuition and
experimentation (26%) and, above all, by
professional challenges (60%). Therefore, in this
sample women reveal that as their digital literacy
grows, they are less motivated by ludic aims and
increasingly by innovation purposes and professional
challenges.
5 CONCLUSIONS
The study investigates women’s approach to digital
technologies and DiDIY, outlining personal and
organizational characteristics that impact on
women’s attitude towards DiDIY.
The sample includes 591 female respondents; a
part of them can be defined as DiDIYer because they
declare to have developed and, partly, realized new
digital applications. Women in the sample are mature
and educated and, among the DiDIYers, as many as
60% have a degree or a higher education level.
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191

The sample comprises mostly women working in
large organizations in various roles. Their
organizations are characterised by complexity,
though informal coordination mechanisms based on
direct communication are widespread and overlap to
almost all other mechanisms (rules, procedures,
objectives etc.). Thus, complexity does not
necessarily combine with high formalization; on the
contrary, there is room for direct communication and
human contact. Moreover, women mostly work in
teams and some of them refer to a community of
practice in her job, underlying the importance of
professional links, both within and outside the
organization. This trait is amplified among the female
DiDIYer, concentrated in a few organizational areas,
and in particular in those functions that connect the
organization to the external environment, such as
Research and Development, Marketing and Customer
Service. Thus, organizational complexity and
connections with the external environment are the
emerging characteristics of the female DiDIYers’
workplace. Knowledge sharing and creation within
organic and participative cultures, also through
communities of practice, are also important features.
In the sample women perceive themselves, on
average, as moderately expert, whereas the DiDIYers
rate their digital expertise as higher, even if all declare
to have acquired their digital skills mainly through
field experience and self-training. Therefore, self-
motivation appears to be an important driving force
in developing digital skills. It’s interesting to notice
that not only women that are engaged in technological
activities, but also those who apply these abilities for
recreational goals declare a higher level of digital
expertise than average, showing that gamification
plays an important role in acquiring digital skills and
that it can be a successful tool in training people in
large organizational contexts. However when it
comes to DiDIY activities, game is no longer a driver:
female DiDIYers are pushed also by innovation,
personal intuition and experimentation and, above all,
by professional challenges. Therefore this study
suggests that gamification can play an important role
in approaching digital technologies and training basic
digital skills, but at a higher level of competences
gives way to other levers, in particular to the appeal
of innovation and personal and professional
challenges.
Women in the sample consider digital
technologies as an almost salvific tool. In more
details, female DiDIYers describe their attitude
towards digital technologies with the concepts of
awareness, curiosity and innovativeness, confirming
that the awareness of being a digital expert is a
fundamental trait of DiDIYers. Moreover, passion
and pleasure demonstrate that women DiDIYers are
not only technology adopters but above all expert
amateur (Kuznetsov and Paulos, 2010).
In more details, the regression analysis highlights
that the perceived level of digital skills is a predictor
of a positive attitude towards digital technologies
whereas staff’s age and organizational complexity
aren’t. This result shows that organizations - and
public administration as well - can favour digital
transformation through their employees’ digital skills
training and manage a successful transition even
within a context of workforce ageing. In any case, so
far, personal and traditional relationships are
preferred to virtual computer-mediated ones, even
among DiDIYers. In this sense the human contact is
probably an irreplaceable component of wellbeing,
both in the workplace and in social life and no
substitution effects of digital technologies on human
relationships is accepted or expected.
Finally, female DiDIYers’ mindset is that of
passionate people, emotionally involved, educated
and aware of the high value of DiDIY outputs. At the
same time, they are proud and conscious of their
potential contribution to the improvement of their
lives and their workplace. In their opinion the
developing technology feeds on creative experimen-
tation and becomes almost a vision of the world.
This study aims at advancing the knowledge of
the DiDIY phenomenon in the gender domain.
However, it has several limitations They include
issues related to: (a) sampling, (b) participants’ level
of honesty and accuracy; (c) the study was also
limited to one country (Italy) and (d) mainly big
public corporations. Nonetheless, the study
contributes to shedding some light on the relation
women-technologies and, moreover, on the existence
and the actual characteristics of female DiDIYers in
complex organisation.
The results acknowledge some distinctions
between female workers and female DiDIYers,
outlining the emerging characteristics of the female
DiDIYers’ profile. Nevertheless, our research does
not outline gender-related differences. Further
research comparing men and women working within
the same organizations could outline those
differences. The study suggest that DiDIY might have
a direct impact on firms’ performance. A deeper
knowledge of the phenomenon within the functional
areas where it is concentrated would enable insight
(Anwar, et al., 2017; McDonald, 2017) on how
organizations can engage female employees in
DiDIY to improve performance and workers’
satisfaction.
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