Female top managers and firm performance

This paper uses firm-level data worldwide to investigate productivity gaps between female and male-managed companies in developing and developed countries and compare the outcomes obtained for different regions in the world. The main aim is to shed some light on the debate around the existence of pe...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:PloS one 2023-02, Vol.18 (2), p.e0273976-e0273976
Main Author: Martínez-Zarzoso, Inmaculada
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Africa, Northern
Asia, Eastern
Confluence
Developed countries
Developing countries
Economic aspects
Empowerment
Entrepreneurs
Entrepreneurship
Evaluation
Female
Females
Feminism
Gender differences
Gender equity
Health aspects
Humans
International organizations
Labor economics
Labor productivity
LDCs
Male
Males
Methods
Organizational Culture
Ownership
Participation
People and Places
Productivity
Professional development
Sex discrimination
Social aspects
Social Sciences
South Africa
Women
Women executives
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Summary:This paper uses firm-level data worldwide to investigate productivity gaps between female and male-managed companies in developing and developed countries and compare the outcomes obtained for different regions in the world. The main aim is to shed some light on the debate around the existence of performance differences when females participate in managerial activities. The main results indicate that it is crucial to distinguish between female management and female ownership and the confluence between both. We find that when the firms have a top female manager and ownership is exclusively male, firms show higher average labor productivity. We argue that firms owned by males belong to male-dominated corporate culture and would only select a female manager if she is more competent than potential male candidates. These results are very heterogeneous among regions, of which South Saharan Africa, East Asia, and South Asia are driving the main results.
ISSN:1932-6203
1932-6203
DOI:10.1371/journal.pone.0273976