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The Direct and Indirect Impact of Gender Diversity in New Venture Teams on Innovation Performance

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  • Ye Dai
  • Gukdo Byun
  • Fangsheng Ding

Abstract

Women's interest and participation in entrepreneurship is growing. The limited and inconclusive findings on such growth have made it difficult to characterize its influence on new venture innovation performance. In addressing this issue, our study found a positive relationship between the gender diversity scores of new venture teams—reflecting the increased presence of women—and the innovation performance of new ventures. It also found the positive influence of gender diversity on (a) the relationship between the functional diversity of a venture team and its innovation performance and (b) the relationship between female employee presence and innovation performance.

Suggested Citation

  • Ye Dai & Gukdo Byun & Fangsheng Ding, 2019. "The Direct and Indirect Impact of Gender Diversity in New Venture Teams on Innovation Performance," Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, , vol. 43(3), pages 505-528, May.
    • Handle: RePEc:sae:entthe:v:43:y:2019:i:3:p:505-528
    DOI: 10.1177/1042258718807696
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    3. Weili Huang, 2021. "Threshold effect of gender composition in the top management team on firm innovation: New evidence from China," Managerial and Decision Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 42(3), pages 551-563, April.
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    5. Lingfu Kong & Muhammad Usman & Weili Yue & Fakhra Yasmin & Marcela Sokolova, 2024. "Leadher: role of women leadership in shaping corporate innovation," Palgrave Communications, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 11(1), pages 1-10, December.
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    12. Chao Wang & Xiu-e Zhang & Shushan Zhang & Yuan Le & Qing Li, 2024. "How to Convert Entrepreneurial Alertness into the Performance of New Ventures via Entrepreneurial Bricolage: The Moderating Effect of Environmental Dynamism," SAGE Open, , vol. 14(3), pages 21582440241, September.
    13. Swab, R. Gabrielle & Wolfe, Marcus, 2023. "Game on! Age, race, and performance in the board game industry," Journal of Business Venturing Insights, Elsevier, vol. 19(C).
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    15. Merguei, Nitzan, 2022. "Venturing out: Designing effective pre-acceleration programs," Technovation, Elsevier, vol. 116(C).
    16. Namal Mete Kaan & Tufan Cenk & Köksal Kemal & Mert İbrahim Sani, 2023. "The Effect of Market and Technological Turbulence on Innovation Performance in Nascent Enterprises: The Moderating Role of Entrepreneur’s Courage," Economics - The Open-Access, Open-Assessment Journal, De Gruyter, vol. 17(1), pages 1-19.
    17. Jianhong Chen & Jeffrey E. Sohl & Wan-Chien Lien, 2023. "Angel Investors’ Political Ideology and Investments in Women-Owned Ventures," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 188(2), pages 379-396, November.
    18. Tonoyan, Vartuhi & Boudreaux, Christopher J., 2023. "Gender diversity in firm ownership: Direct and indirect effects on firm-level innovation across 29 emerging economies," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 52(4).
    19. Huang, Shuangfa & Battisti, Martina & Pickernell, David, 2023. "The roles of innovation strategy and founding team diversity in new venture growth," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 158(C).
    20. Susana C. Santos & Xaver Neumeyer, 2022. "Culture and gender in entrepreneurial teams: the effect on team processes and outcomes," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 58(2), pages 1035-1050, February.
    21. Martin Kenney & Donald Patton & Siri Terjesen, 2024. "Gender diversity at entrepreneurial firm IPOs: responding to changing societal norms," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 63(3), pages 897-915, October.
    22. Michael Machokoto & Tesfaye T. Lemma & Ouarda Dsouli & Rebecca Fakoussa & Eghosa Igudia, 2024. "Coupling men‐to‐women: Promoting innovation in emerging markets," International Journal of Finance & Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 29(3), pages 3656-3677, July.
    23. Jie Yang & Mingxing Yu, 2022. "The Influence of Institutional Support on the Innovation Performance of New Ventures: The Mediating Mechanism of Entrepreneurial Orientation," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(4), pages 1-15, February.
    24. Rachel Bocquet & Christian Le Bas & Caroline Danièle Mothe & Nicolas Poussing, 2019. "Strategic CSR for innovation in SMEs: Does diversity matter?," Post-Print hal-02380559, HAL.
    25. Wei Wang & Kimberly A. Eddleston & Francesco Chirico & Stephen X. Zhang & Qiaozhuan Liang & Wei Deng, 2023. "Family Diversity and Business Start-Up: Do Family Meals Feed the Fire of Entrepreneurship?," Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, , vol. 47(4), pages 1265-1297, July.

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