The Presence of Women in Private Family Firms’ Corporate Governance and Innovation Outcomes

Abstract

AbstractDespite the increase in the number of studies analysing innovation in family firms over the last decade, there are still a number of critical issues that are far from being resolved. One of these issues is related to the influence of women’s presence in corporate governance structures on firms’ innovation outcomes. In light of this, the aim of the present chapter is to investigate whether the inclusion of women in private family firms’ corporate governance structures, namely, in the general shareholders’ meeting, the top management team and board of directors, influences firms’ innovation. By applying regression analyses to a sample of 339 Spanish private family firms, the findings reveal that the presence of women in general shareholders’ meetings and in top management teams has a negative and significant effect on innovation.KeywordsWomenCorporate governanceInnovationFamily firms