IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/sae/entthe/v31y2007i2p209-232.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The Status of Women in Corporate Governance in High–Growth, High–Potential Firms

Author

Listed:
  • Teresa Nelson
  • Laurie L. Levesque

Abstract

Surveys of the largest U.S. corporations routinely demonstrate that the role of women in corporate governance is acutely limited. In this research we examine how high–growth entrepreneurial sectors of the economy compare to that standard. We posit that high demand labor markets, enhanced higher education of women, and dynamic industry and firm conditions could result in a greater participation of women executives in firms moving toward major corporate status through initial public offering. However, our study results show few significant differences between women's participation in high–growth, high–potential firms versus the Fortune 500. Several of the findings directly contradict our hypotheses, with lower rates of women as board directors and a greater likelihood of the executive team being composed exclusively of men in high–growth, high–potential firms. Women are not present in the top leadership spots of Chief Executive Officer (CEO) and Board Chair in either sector, and within high–growth firms are significantly less likely to be found on the boards of venture capital backed companies. The implications of these findings for companies, for policy, and for women and men planning careers in business are discussed.

Suggested Citation

  • Teresa Nelson & Laurie L. Levesque, 2007. "The Status of Women in Corporate Governance in High–Growth, High–Potential Firms," Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, , vol. 31(2), pages 209-232, March.
    • Handle: RePEc:sae:entthe:v:31:y:2007:i:2:p:209-232
    DOI: 10.1111/j.1540-6520.2007.00170.x
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1111/j.1540-6520.2007.00170.x
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1111/j.1540-6520.2007.00170.x?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Candida G. Brush & Nancy M. Carter & Patricia G. Greene & Myra M. Hart & Elizabeth Gatewood, 2002. "The role of social capital and gender in linking financial suppliers and entrepreneurial firms: A framework for future research," Venture Capital, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 4(4), pages 305-323, October.
    2. Patricia G. Greene & Candida G. Brush & Myra M. Hart & Patrick Saparito, 2001. "Patterns of venture capital funding: Is gender a factor?," Venture Capital, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 3(1), pages 63-83, January.
    3. Tyzoon T. Tyebjee & Albert V. Bruno, 1984. "A Model of Venture Capitalist Investment Activity," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 30(9), pages 1051-1066, September.
    4. Dean A. Shepherd & Andrew Zacharakis, 2001. "The venture capitalist-entrepreneur relationship: Control, trust and confidence in co-operative behaviour," Venture Capital, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 3(2), pages 129-149, April.
    5. Baum, Joel A. C. & Silverman, Brian S., 2004. "Picking winners or building them? Alliance, intellectual, and human capital as selection criteria in venture financing and performance of biotechnology startups," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 19(3), pages 411-436, May.
    6. Michael Lubatkin & John Florin & William S. Schulze, 2003. "A social capital model of high growth ventures," Post-Print hal-02311715, HAL.
    7. Zacharakis, Andrew L. & Meyer, G. Dale, 2000. "The potential of actuarial decision models: Can they improve the venture capital investment decision?," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 15(4), pages 323-346, July.
    8. Teresa Nelson, 2003. "The persistence of founder influence: management, ownership, and performance effects at initial public offering," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 24(8), pages 707-724, August.
    9. Michael Lubatkin & John Florin & William S. Schulze, 2003. "A social capital model of high growth ventures," Post-Print hal-02276699, HAL.
    10. Greenhaus, Jeffrey H. & Parasuraman, Saroj, 1993. "Job Performance Attributions and Career Advancement Prospects: An Examination of Gender and Race Effects," Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, Elsevier, vol. 55(2), pages 273-297, July.
    11. Nancy Carter & Candida Brush & Patricia Greene & Elizabeth Gatewood & Myra Hart, 2003. "Women entrepreneurs who break through to equity financing: The influence of human, social and financial capital," Venture Capital, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 5(1), pages 1-28, January.
    12. Patricia Simpson & Linda Stroh, 2002. "Revisiting Gender Variation in Training," Feminist Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 8(3), pages 21-53.
    13. Bygrave, William D., 1987. "Syndicated investments by venture capital firms: A networking perspective," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 2(2), pages 139-154.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Bannò, Mariasole & D’Allura, Giorgia M. & Dawson, Alexandra & Torchia, Mariateresa & Audretsch, David, 2024. "Advancing diversity research in family business," Journal of Family Business Strategy, Elsevier, vol. 15(2).
    2. Abinzano, Isabel & Martinez, Beatriz & Poletti-Hughes, Jannine, 2023. "Women in power with power: The influence of meaningful board representation on default risk," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 89(C).
    3. Martinez-Garcia, Irma & Terjesen, Siri & Gomez-Anson, Silvia, 2024. "Regulating board gender diversity in Europe: The influence of cultural, governmental, and women’s institutions," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 182(C).

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Jing Zhang & Vangelis Souitaris & Pek–hooi Soh & Poh–kam Wong, 2008. "A Contingent Model of Network Utilization in Early Financing of Technology Ventures," Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, , vol. 32(4), pages 593-613, July.
    2. Ko, Eun-Jeong & McKelvie, Alexander, 2018. "Signaling for more money: The roles of founders' human capital and investor prominence in resource acquisition across different stages of firm development," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 33(4), pages 438-454.
    3. Unger, Jens M. & Rauch, Andreas & Frese, Michael & Rosenbusch, Nina, 2011. "Human capital and entrepreneurial success: A meta-analytical review," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 26(3), pages 341-358, May.
    4. Xaver Neumeyer & Susana C. Santos & António Caetano & Pamela Kalbfleisch, 2019. "Entrepreneurship ecosystems and women entrepreneurs: a social capital and network approach," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 53(2), pages 475-489, August.
    5. Aleksandrina Ralcheva & Peter Roosenboom, 2020. "Forecasting success in equity crowdfunding," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 55(1), pages 39-56, June.
    6. Shao, Yan & Sun, Lingxia, 2021. "Entrepreneurs’ social capital and venture capital financing," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 136(C), pages 499-512.
    7. Junfu Zhang, 2011. "The advantage of experienced start-up founders in venture capital acquisition: evidence from serial entrepreneurs," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 36(2), pages 187-208, February.
    8. Enrico Santarelli & Hien Tran, 2013. "The interplay of human and social capital in shaping entrepreneurial performance: the case of Vietnam," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 40(2), pages 435-458, February.
    9. Rohit Aggarwal & David Kryscynski & Harpreet Singh, 2015. "Evaluating Venture Technical Competence in Venture Capitalist Investment Decisions," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 61(11), pages 2685-2706, November.
    10. John R. Becker–Blease & Jeffrey E. Sohl, 2011. "The Effect of Gender Diversity on Angel Group Investment," Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, , vol. 35(4), pages 709-733, July.
    11. Tatiana S. Manolova & Nancy M. Carter & Ivan M. Manev & Bojidar S. Gyoshev, 2007. "The Differential Effect of Men and Women Entrepreneurs’ Human Capital and Networking on Growth Expectancies in Bulgaria," Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, , vol. 31(3), pages 407-426, May.
    12. Becker-Blease, John R. & Sohl, Jeffrey E., 2007. "Do women-owned businesses have equal access to angel capital?," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 22(4), pages 503-521, July.
    13. Barbara J. Orser & Allan L. Riding & Kathryn Manley, 2006. "Women Entrepreneurs and Financial Capital," Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, , vol. 30(5), pages 643-665, September.
    14. Matthew Lee & Laura Huang, 2018. "Gender Bias, Social Impact Framing, and Evaluation of Entrepreneurial Ventures," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 29(1), pages 1-16, February.
    15. Lakshmi Balachandra & Tony Briggs & Kim Eddleston & Candida Brush, 2019. "Don’t Pitch Like a Girl!: How Gender Stereotypes Influence Investor Decisions," Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, , vol. 43(1), pages 116-137, January.
    16. Harry Scarbrough & Jacky Swan & Kenneth Amaeshi & Tony Briggs, 2013. "Exploring the Role of Trust in the Deal–Making Process for Early–Stage Technology Ventures," Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, , vol. 37(5), pages 1203-1228, September.
    17. Petty, Jeffrey S. & Gruber, Marc, 2011. ""In pursuit of the real deal": A longitudinal study of VC decision making," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 26(2), pages 172-188, March.
    18. Jennifer M. Walske & Andrew Zacharakis, 2009. "Genetically Engineered: Why Some Venture Capital Firms are more Successful than Others," Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, , vol. 33(1), pages 297-318, January.
    19. Gry Agnete Alsos & Elisabet Ljunggren, 2017. "The Role of Gender in Entrepreneur–Investor Relationships: A Signaling Theory Approach," Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, , vol. 41(4), pages 567-590, July.
    20. Daphne Yiu & Jun Su & Yuehua Xu, 2013. "Alternative financing and private firm performance," Asia Pacific Journal of Management, Springer, vol. 30(3), pages 829-852, September.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:sae:entthe:v:31:y:2007:i:2:p:209-232. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: SAGE Publications (email available below). General contact details of provider: .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.