The effect of female participation in top management teams on the growth performance of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs): Evidence from a panel-data analysis in Chinese-listed SMEs

Abstract

Purpose - 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. Design/methodology/approach - Adopting resource dependence theory, this paper tests the hypotheses using panel data from 469 Chinese-listed SMEs during the period of 2011 to 2013. Findings - 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. Originality/value - 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.

Keywords

• Small and medium-sized enterprises
• Female participation in TMT
• Growth performance
• Education level