Coupling men‐to‐women: Promoting innovation in emerging markets

Abstract

Abstract Motivated by calls to explore corporate outcomes of gender diversity‐related dependencies in a firm's upper echelons, we examine whether gender diversity in manager‐owner(s) teams shapes innovation. Using the context of emerging markets and a large surveydataset drawn from the Business Environment and Enterprise Performance Survey (BEEPS), we find robust evidence suggesting that gender‐diverse manager‐owner(s) teams are associated with higher odds of undertaking innovation. Specifically, women (men) owned firms managed by a male (female) top manager are associated with a higher likelihood of undertaking innovation relative to women (men) owned firms managed by women (men). Additionally, we find that female‐owned firms run by male (female) top managers are the most (least) innovative and male‐owned firms run by female (male) top managers are the second (third) innovative. Our findings indicate that heterophilic manager‐owner(s) teams have the potential to foster innovation in emerging markets. More importantly, our results suggest that initiatives promoting manager‐owner(s) team's gender diversity have the potential to overcome the social and structural barriers that impede innovation in emerging economies.

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