Female empowerment/participation in the workplace and firm performance: a study of privately-owned firms
International Journal of Productivity and Performance Management
ISSN: 1741-0401
Article publication date: 29 October 2020
Issue publication date: 2 November 2021
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this study is to examine the relationship between female empowerment/participation and firm performance.
Design/methodology/approach
The data are cross-sectional, extracted from the records of the Enterprise Surveys of the World Bank (ESWB). It covers 561 privately-owned firms from Lebanon. Tobit regressions are used in the analysis.
Findings
The findings show that firm performance is positively associated with one form of female empowerment (female involvement in management), and the positive and significant association remains significant when several control variables are considered. However, the positive association between firm performance and the other form of female empowerment (female involvement in ownership) does not hold the inclusion of control variables in the regression. Furthermore, there is a positive association between firm performance and female participation in the workplace (the percentage of female workers), which remains qualitatively unchanged when several control variables are considered.
Originality/value
This is one of the first research studies that examines the relationship between female empowerment/participation and firm performance, while differentiating between female involvement in management and female involvement in ownership. Notably, the study extends the authors’ limited understanding on that relationship in the context of a small and understudied country such as Lebanon, where privately-held firms dominate.
Keywords
Citation
Achkar, J. and Bouri, E. (2021), "Female empowerment/participation in the workplace and firm performance: a study of privately-owned firms", International Journal of Productivity and Performance Management, Vol. 70 No. 8, pp. 2149-2162. https://doi.org/10.1108/IJPPM-04-2020-0166
Publisher
:Emerald Publishing Limited
Copyright © 2020, Emerald Publishing Limited