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This paper aims to examine the relationship between the female participation in top management team (TMT) and the growth performance of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in the Chinese economic environment.

Adopting resource dependence theory, this paper tests the hypotheses using panel data from 469 Chinese-listed SMEs during the period of 2011 to 2013.

The results show that female participation in TMT significantly promotes the growth performance of SMEs, and there is significantly inverted U-shaped relationship between these two variables.

This paper finds that education level weakens the inverted U-shaped relationship between the female’s participation in TMT and the growth performance of SMEs.

This paper proposes an examination of the relationship between female participation in top management teams and firm performance in the emerging Chinese private economy. It aims to examine the direct link between female participation in top management teams and firm performance. This is examined in the context of human capital and social capital associated with female top executives to investigate the origins and the contingencies of the linkage.

Drawing on resource dependence theory, the study develops and tests a set of hypotheses regarding the key relationships, using the data of listed private‐owned companies in China's security exchanges in 2008, with critical information on financial performance, corporate governance structure and the top management team composition of the companies. Regression analyses are conducted to test the direct relationship and the moderating effects.

The empirical analysis supports a positive relationship between the degree of female participation and firm performance in Chinese privately owned companies. The positive relationship is further strengthened by female top executives' human capital and social capital, consistent with the hypotheses.

The present study gains consistent results with research conducted in the Western context, suggesting that the top management behavior of Chinese private enterprises is similar to that of their Western counterparts, possibly due to the fact that they are less influenced by direct governmental control and are more profit‐driven than state‐owned companies.

The results of the study suggest that Chinese private companies can gain competitive advantages through identifying, attracting, and developing female managerial talents. And the female executives in the new era should be ones with systematic education and strong social connections. Both factors facilitate female executives to contribute better to their companies' performance.

The contribution of the present study is twofold. First, drawing on extant literature in the Western business context, the present study is the first to examine how female participation in top management influences firm performance in the context of the Chinese private sector, which contributes to the understanding of and offers insights to Chinese managerial practices. Second, the study enriches the extant literature by examining the moderating effects of female executives' human and social capitals.

The purpose of this paper is to discuss the influence of different aspects of top management team (TMT) functional background on short-term performance, long-term performance, innovation performance and oversea performance separately. This research aims to verify whether the social categorization theory and information and decision-making theory are applicable in listed companies of China’s information technology (IT) industry so as to provide key theoretical references for TMT enhancement ad corporate performance improvement.

This paper takes A-share listed companies in Shanghai Stock Exchange and Shenzhen Stock Exchange as its study subjects, and it chooses the data from 2004 to 2010 in all of the 105 companies in IT industry in terms of the classification of Wind Database. The stepwise multiple regressions were run utilizing the regression program in Statistical Product and Service Solutions (SPSS).

The research results show that the social categorization theory can better explain TMT’s influence on corporate performance. TMT functional heterogeneity does not contribute to improving corporate performance and shows significant negative influence on short-term performance and innovation performance in particular. Among the three basic functional backgrounds, TMTs dominated by “throughput” backgrounds show significant positive influence on short-term performance, long-term performance, innovation performance and overseas performance, and the influence turns out to be the largest among these three backgrounds. In terms of the three special professional experiences, top executives with overseas backgrounds have significant positive influence on all of short-term, long-term, innovation and overseas performances. Externally hired executives, however, would impede corporate innovation development, while those with government background would increase corporate overseas performance.

This paper analyzes the relationship between TMT functional background and corporate performance in a comprehensive way for the first time and then takes the lead in considering the dynamics and complexity of corporate performance as well as discussing the influence of TMT functional background on four corporate performances. This study not only supports the effect that the social categorization theory has on TMTs but also offers some inspirations on the development of China’s IT companies.

With the aim of shedding new light on the characteristics of human capital in its relationship with organizational innovation, this paper develops a novel theoretical and empirical exploration of the characteristics of human capital, both executives' experience and employees' average education level, as well as the moderating effect of female ownership, on two different aspects of organizational innovation.

Data were obtained from the World Bank's China private manufacturing enterprise questionnaire survey. The study employs regression analysis of a logistic model using 1,598 samples, because the dependent variable of an organization's innovation index is a binary variable.

Using World Bank survey data of Chinese private manufacturing enterprises, the authors find that executives' experience has a significantly positive effect on process innovation. Female ownership strengthens the relationship between executives' experience and process innovation. Moreover, the results indicate that employees' average educational level has a significantly positive effect on product innovation. Female ownership strengthens the relationships between employees' average educational level and organizational innovation including product innovation and process innovation. This study highlights the importance of simultaneously testing the effects of human capital and gender heterogeneity on organizational innovation activities.

This study explores the impact of human capital on organizational innovation activities in the context of the Chinese manufacturing industry. Moreover, organizational innovation activities are divided into two aspects: product innovation and process innovation. This study separately discusses the effect of human capital on these two kinds of innovation in detail. Finally, female ownership is selected as a moderating variable, and it is demonstrated that interactions of female owners with executives' experience and employees' average educational level have a positive impact on increasing different kinds of organizational innovation. The authors identify new boundary conditions for the domain of female research that are sorely lacking in the present literature.

In recent years, mandatory rules and regulations were issued to stress the importance of increasing gender diversity in companies, assuming that gender diversity would enhance financial performance. Thus, the purpose of this paper is to review recent research concerning board gender diversity and its impact on financial performance for the period of 2002 to 2022.

Using the Web of Science and Scopus databases, 152 studies were analyzed, out of 91 high-impact journals. The analysis focuses on discussing the moderating, mediating and controlling variables and exploring the theories and theoretical foundations that are most prevalent in the literature.

The findings indicated an incompatibility between the results of the studies on the impact of gender diversity on financial performance. In addition, results showed the majority of studies focused on discussing the controlling variables associated with the company compared to the variables related to employees or the surrounding environment. On the other hand, the results also showed widespread use of the theoretical basis with the development of new theories in the recent period in parallel with the increase in the literature.

The results of this study help to reconcile the findings of the different and conflicting literature by presenting the perception that the efficacy of the positive impact of gender diversity on financial performance is related to several organizational and environmental factors that companies have to consider.

The operational framework of external financing in the correlation between the gender of entrepreneurs and firm performance remains to be resolved. This study aims to investigate the mediating effect of external financing on gender-based disparities in private firm performance and to explore its heterogeneity within the Chinese context.

Based on national data from the 10th to 13th Chinese Private Enterprise Survey, this study used a bootstrap-based mediation effect model to analyze the role of external financing as a mediator in the relationship between entrepreneur gender and firm performance.

This study found that external financing is a constructive mediator between entrepreneur gender and firm performance. Heterogeneity analysis revealed that external financing plays a complementary mediation role in the impact of entrepreneur gender on performance in West China. In the tertiary industry, external financing acts as the sole mediator for the impact of gender on firm performance. Notably, this mediating effect is present in non-startups but not in startups.

The findings suggest that external financing can improve the firm performance of female entrepreneurs. Governments and policymakers should strengthen financial support for female entrepreneurs in West China, tertiary industry and non-startup enterprises.

This paper contributes to the literature on gender and corporate governance by shedding light on the mediating role of external financing in the relationship between the gender of business owners and firm performance.

In 2011, the Malaysian cabinet approved the policy that all board of directors of companies listed on the Bursa Malaysia should consist of 30 per cent women in decision-making positions by the year 2016. The purpose of this paper is to examine the association between the presence of women on the board and firms’ performance following the introduction of the diversity policy.

The analysis uses the information of the top 200 Malaysian public listed companies for the financial year 2011–2013. The multiple regression analysis is used to estimate the relationship between the firm performance (return on assets (ROA)) as the dependent variable and the independent variables.

The results show that during the period under study, the proportion of women directors on board is negatively correlated with ROA. This indicates that the firm performance may not be dependent on the number of women directors on board. However, the results of the study also show that the academic backgrounds of the women board members add some value toward generating better firm performance.

A small sample size of only the top 200 public listed companies was utilised. Consequently the outcome may not be generalisable to smaller public companies or private firms. Another limitation is regarding the sample period. Taking only one year before and one year after the policy’s approval may be too short of the period under study and may be too early to study the impact of the policy. Future studies could sample a longer period.

The findings encourage public listed companies to appoint women with the necessary qualities as members of the board and not to simply increase the number of women on boards.

There is a lack of work on studying women’s effectiveness on board in developing countries, whereby previous work and literature review were predominantly based upon the experience of Western economies. This study, thus, contributes to the rising literature on women board member representation based on the firm performance of the top 200 listed companies in Malaysia.

This study aims to investigate the impact of top management team (TMT)'s gender diversity on corporate social performance (CSP). It sheds light on inconsistent results in literature by testing the moderator effects of chief executive officer (CEO) managerial ability and corporate governance (CG) on such impact.

A dynamic panel estimator is applied to an international sample of 8640 firm‐year observations from 2013 to 2017.

The author finds reliable evidence that the critical mass of at least three women leaders has a positive impact on the firm's CSP. Obtained results suggest, moreover, the deterrence effects of CEO managerial ability and CG tools (board independence, board gender diversity, the presence of a corporate social responsibility committee and family control) on the women leaders' contribution to the firm's CSP level. These results remain consistent with alternative measures for women leaders and CEO managerial ability. However, findings are lost when women achieve the CEO position, the chairperson position or both positions, which imply that men and women leadership styles are closely similar rather than different. Furthermore, women leaders' effect on CSP seems dependent (do not) on the country (industry) which a firm belongs to.

From a practical standpoint, the study highlights the importance of fostering the achievement of a critical mass of women leaders and the combination of CEO managerial ability – educational/professional backgrounds – and CG attributes to improve the firm's CSP. The study has important implications for investors and regulators. If investors wish to increase CSP, they should ask for more gender diversified TMTs. Furthermore, this study supports regulators in their efforts to increase senior women's quotas by providing empirical evidence of better social outcomes under leader gender diversity. The study’s evidence is also useful for companies in setting the criteria to identify CEOs who can support their strategic decisions.

By studying the impact female leaders have on CSP under CEO managerial ability and CG as moderators, this study is the first to display complementarities and substitutions between CEO's managerial ability and selected CG attributes in the promotion of CSP by female senior executives. Furthermore, it fills the void on how TMT's gender diversity impact CSP. In fact, while it is conventionally considered that women are more likely to engage in socially responsible activities, sensitive findings of this study shed light on the brighter side of female executives when they achieve the CEO, the chairperson position or both positions.

The purpose of this paper is to analyze, in the Colombian developing context, the relationship between the presence of women in corporate positions and the financial performance of the company and to know if there are differences between family and non-family firms.

Building on the contingency theory of leadership, which emphasizes that leader’s personality and the situation in which that leader operates influences corporate decision-making, the authors use panel data models on a sample of 54 Colombian public businesses for the period 2008-2015 to test the proposed hypotheses on the relationship between women´s presence in corporate governance positions and financial performance, as well as the difference between family and non-family firms.

The results support that women´s presence in corporate governance positions is positively associated with firm performance. More concretely, the authors find a relationship between women at the top corporate governance structure (as part of the board of directors, top management team and chief executive officer) and firm profitability. Results also indicate that family business, as a type of organization, (negatively) moderates the positive relationship between female participation in top executive positions (board and top executive team) and firm performance.

First, this study is limited to women in corporate positions in large companies listed on the Colombia Stock Exchange, and thus, generalizability for smaller entities may be limited. Second, data limitations do not allow us to investigate ways in which women’s presence in corporate governance structures contributes to improve firm goals.

The authors provide support to the hypothesis that positively relates women’s presence in corporate governance positions and firm performance for the case of Colombia. This serves as a guidance to Colombian regulators, corporate decision-makers and policy-makers to promote the inclusion of women in top hierarchical structures through either mandatory laws or recommendation.

Few studies have addressed the women´s presence in corporate governance positions and contribution to firm performance in developing economies. This study contributes to better understand how women impact performance in contexts where women are underrepresented in corporate governance structure and where there are no laws that pressure firms to appoint women in corporate governance positions.

The purpose of the study is to examine the interaction between the structure of the top management team, takeover defense mechanisms and firms rate of collective actions.

The study uses elements of agency theory, prospect theory and competitive dynamics research to develop a model for examining heterogeneity in the rate of collective actions among firms in the technology sector. A sample of 299 firm-year observations arrayed into panel regression analyses is used.

The findings from this study show a positive relationship between the size of the top management team and the count of collective actions when takeover defense mechanisms are present. Further this study finds a negative relationship between top management team ownership and collective actions when these same takeover defense mechanisms are present. Additionally, the female ratio of the top management team is negatively related to collective actions.

This study was conducted using a sample of technological firms. These relationships may not be generalizable to firms in other contexts. Further, other elements of the firm’s governance structure (i.e. board of directors or shareholders) may play an important role in the strategic decision-making process.

This study expands on existing research by linking several blocks of literature, top management team literature, competitive dynamics literature and corporate governance literature, into a model to examine firm structural characteristics on the heterogeneity in the propensity to formulate collective actions among firms.