Closing the gender gap in top management teams: An examination of diversity and compensation parity in family and non-family firms

Shalini Sarin Jain, Guy D. Fernando, Arindam Tripathy and Sandhya Bhatia

Journal of Family Business Strategy, 2021, vol. 12, issue 4

Abstract: This study examines gender equity – representation and compensation in top management – in listed family and non-family firms in the U.S. We integrate diversity, gender, and family firm perspectives, to understand how family firms vary from their non-family peers when making strategic choices about achieving gender parity in executive positions. Our empirical analyses confirm that family firms lag non-family firms in gender representation, suggesting they do not fully harness the potential advantages of female leadership. Our novel finding, however, is that family firms are successful in attenuating the gender compensation gap in their top management teams. Our results illustrate how family firms leverage their distinct ‘familial’ features to both preserve their socioemotional wealth and add to their inimitable resource cache, while also being socially responsible on a societal level. This study advances our understanding of the important role of ownership structure in bridging the persistent gender equity divide.

Keywords: Gender diversity; Compensation parity; Family firms; Socioemotional wealth; Top management teams (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (3)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:fambus:v:12:y:2021:i:4:s1877858520301157

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DOI: 10.1016/j.jfbs.2020.100388

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