Institutional voids, liability of origin, and presence of women in TMT of emerging market multinationals

Abstract

This study examines the association between the pervasiveness of institutional voids in emerging markets and the inclusion of women in top management teams (TMTs) by emerging market multinational corporations (EMNCs) as a legitimation strategy. Leveraging institutional theory, we argue that EMNCs increase women presence in TMTs as a legitimation strategy to overcome the challenges of stakeholders' skepticism in foreign markets by disassociating themselves from the image of their home markets. Using a subsidiary level dataset of 1047 EMNCs from 26 emerging countries between 2009 and 2018, we find robust evidence indicating that the pervasiveness of institutional voids at home is positively related to the percentage of women in TMT's EMNCs' foreign units. This effect is particularly stronger for firms operating in countries with high institutional gender parity and low level of corruption.