Top Management Team Diversity Research Articles

Gender diversity in hospitality and tourism top management teams: A systematic review of the last 10 years

Abstract Due to women still accounting for less than a quarter of hospitality and tourism executive-level positions, the purpose of this paper was to identify antecedents to and outcomes of gender diverse hospitality and tourism top management teams, describe potential mediators and moderators to these relationships, and provide directions for future research. A systematic review of gender diversity in hospitality and tourism top management teams (TMTs) was conducted between the years 2010 and 2020, resulting in 26 articles used for the thematic analysis. Antecedents, outcomes, mediators, and moderators of gender diverse hospitality and tourism TMTs were identified. The results indicated female role models, organizational structure, and organizational support as antecedents, while financial performance, business growth, and human resource outcomes were consequences. The resource advantage theory is proposed as an explanation for each of these relationships. This study fills a gap in previous literature by conducting a review of gender diversity, identifying critical gaps, and proposing an overarching theory.

How TMT diversity influences open innovation: an empirical study on biopharmaceutical firms in China

ABSTRACT Despite the significant impact of top management team (TMT) upon innovation, few relevant research efforts could be found in the existing open innovation literature. The role of TMT diversity in shaping the performance of open innovation is scarcely investigated. Analysis of panel data from 150 biopharmaceutical firms in China from 2013 to 2017 reveals that the performance of two forms of open innovation (i.e. inbound and outbound) is contingent on TMT diversity. In addition, a differential moderating effect occurs when TMT diversity emerges from distinct attributes of the members, namely, surface-level (e.g. gender and age) and deep-level (e.g. functional background). The results contribute to studies on upper echelons theory and open innovation strategy.

Top management Team's cognitive diversity and the Firm's ambidextrous innovation capability: The mediating role of ambivalent interpretation

The top management team (TMT) diversity has received considerable attention in literature, especially due to its influence on an organization's innovation strategy. While previous studies have considered diversity in terms of education, experience, skills, functionality, and gender, little is known about the TMT's cognitive diversity. We contribute to the literature by examining the influence of the TMT's cognitive diversity on an organization's ambidextrous innovation capability; i.e., its incremental and radical innovation capability. Results from 50 TMTs involved in the electronics industry support our hypothesized mediating role of ambivalent interpretation; that the TMT cogitative diversity positively influences ambivalent interpretation, and this, in turn, positively influences both radical and incremental innovation capability. These findings have important implications for how a firm's decision makers (i.e., the TMT) with their diverse cognitive styles support building the firm's ambidextrous capability through ambivalent interpretation.

Top Management Gender Diversity and Internationalisation in Different Institutional Contexts: Evidence from Germany and Poland

The diversity of top management teams is a topic of increasing scholarly and practical interest. It is argued that globalisation requires international operating firms to staff their management teams with international and diverse members. We investigate the influence of institutional environments on gender and internationality diversity in boards to shed light on the question “Why do top management teams look the way they do?” Our sample includes top management team members of the largest stock listed firms in Germany and Poland. The sample consists of 60 firms and 852 individuals from 2019. Our findings suggest that the presence of non-natives and women on corporate boards and the international orientation of board members, in terms of education, work experience and directorships, are attributable to national institutional systems. While Germany´s top managers are becoming increasingly internationally diverse and have increasing gender diversification, the figures for Poland are also increasing, but on a much smaller scale. We argue that country-level institutions play an important role in shaping the diversity of corporate boards. Future research should place more emphasis on the external national environment when investigating board diversity.

The Performance Impact of Gender Diversity in the Top Management Team and Board of Directors: A Multiteam Systems Approach

Given the mixed evidence that having both women and men in the top management team (TMT) or in the board of directors (BOD) has a significant influence on organizational innovation, we resolve this issue by conceptualizing TMT-BOD gender diversity as part of a multiteam system, that has joint effects which impact organizational innovation. Evidence from the study of both Chinese firms and United Kingdom firms confirm our conceptualization by showing an interaction effect between TMT gender diversity and BOD gender diversity such that innovation is greatest when both are high. The positive TMT-BOD gender diversity interaction effect on innovation improves subsequent firm performance, particularly in dynamic environments. The findings refine current thinking by going beyond research that tests intra-team TMT or BOD diversity independently and instead considers inter-team diversity across both leadership teams within the strategic leadership upper echelons. In sum, findings show that high levels of TMT and BOD gender diversity result in more organizational innovation, which ultimately improves firm performance. We offer implications for women’s inclusion in leadership as well as for research on the upper echelons.

Top management team international diversity and the performance of international R&D

AbstractResearch SummaryWe investigate how international diversity in Top Management Teams (TMTs) contributes to the effectiveness of geographically dispersed R&D strategies in enhancing innovation performance. Both international work experience and nationality diversity may enhance the effectiveness of geographically dispersed R&D when there is alignment between the countries of work experience and nationality of TMT members, on the one hand, and firms' R&D locations on the other. This influence is stronger for international work experience diversity than for nationality diversity, as the former provides more task‐related knowledge to coordinate R&D activities and is less associated with the risk of social categorization. We find partial support for these notions in a panel analysis of the innovation performance of 165 leading MNCs based in Europe, Japan, and the United States.Managerial SummaryThe international experience and nationality diversity of members of the Top Management Team (TMT) of multinational firms may facilitate the implementation of international R&D strategies. If TMT members have knowledge of local circumstances and social networks in the countries in which the firm has international R&D facilities, this can enhance the TMT's ability to allocate and coordinate international R&D tasks more effectively, and to foster firm‐wide collaboration and knowledge integration. Hence, the alignment between R&D locations and the international diversity of the TMT may improve the performance effects of international R&D strategies. We find partial support for this conjecture in an analysis of the patent performance of 165 leading MNCs. It is international work experience rather than nationality diversity that brings these performance benefits.

Gender and firm innovation - A systematic literature review and future research agenda

PurposeThis paper presents a systematic review of 94 research articles in the domain of gender and firm innovation to map the area and infer future research avenues. The literature captured in this review includes seven theoretical, 16 qualitative and 71 quantitative studies from over 50 journals, examining the role of gender in firm innovation in over 100 countries.Design/methodology/approachThis research utilises a reproducible systematic literature review process to identify prominent theoretical and empirical studies.FindingsThe findings suggest that the area is growing and presents interesting opportunities. However, it is observed that empirical investigations are primarily influenced by literature from the Anglo-Saxon areas and give little attention to contextual intricacies of emerging market countries. Among quantitative studies, three main themes of gender are addressed unevenly. They are Top Management Team (TMT) diversity level, R&D team diversity level and individual entrepreneur level studies. Six interesting research avenues are proposed as a major outcome of the review.Originality/valueThis review is one of the first of its kind to extensively review the literature of gender and firm-level innovation. The review consolidates and widens the understanding of the relationship between gender variables and firm innovation-related variables to advance the discussion in the domain by presenting research gaps and questions gleaned from the articles. To this end, the review presents six promising research avenues in the area of gender and firm innovation.

From Attention to Action: The Influence of Cognitive and Ideological Diversity in Top Management Teams on Business Model Innovation

AbstractAs top management teams (TMTs) become progressively more diverse, an important question arises: how does greater TMT diversity affect a company’s ability to innovate its business model? To examine this, we draw on the upper‐echelons literature and on research on business models as activity systems to theorize that cognitive and ideological diversity in TMTs will affect teams’ attention to business model innovation (BMI) and companies’ BMI intensity. Analysis of longitudinal data from firms in the US printing and publishing industry provides support for the theory that, over time, TMT cognitive and ideological diversity have a positive influence on BMI. Whereas cognitive diversity expands TMT’s BMI attention‐scope, both cognitive and ideological diversity increase BMI intensity. However, too much ideological diversity has a negative effect. We furthermore find that TMT longevity moderates the effects of TMT diversity positively, suggesting that the benefit of diversity grows as team members work together longer as a team. We discuss the study’s contributions to the literature on diversity, BMI, and the upper echelons.

Chief stores officer and retailer performance

This research investigates the performance implications for retailers of having a chief stores officer (CSO) in the top management team (TMT). Using a matched sample consisting of 120 public retailers, we find that CSO presence is positively associated with 3 different performance metrics, namely, comparable store sales, profit per store, and Tobin's q. We also identify a partial mediating mechanism and find that CSO presence improves retailer performance through enhanced inventory turnover. Our results are robust to controlling for a series of TMT characteristics (such as chief marketing officer presence, chief operating officer presence, and TMT diversity), time-invariant unobservables at the retailer level, different measures of key variables, and alternate model specifications. As the first study that explores the phenomenon of CSO presence, our findings have important implications for public retailers on how to leverage marketing expertise in the TMT to improve performance.

Cultural Diversity in Top Management Teams – Review and Agenda for Future Research

In this paper, we provide a systematic literature review of extant research on TMT cultural diversity. The in-depth analysis of on the 54 articles published in 34 international peer reviewed journals between 1997 and 2019 reveals a highly fragmented state of the field providing a general platform and specific recommendations for future research. This review highlights the richness in modeling approaches as well as in the conceptualizations of TMT cultural diversity. We also contrast the standard practices with emerging perspectives, encouraging greater granularity in conceptualization of TMT cultural diversity as the field evolves.

Terrorism, Response Strategies, and Gender Diversity in Top Management Teams

Building on the crisis management literature, we argue that multinational enterprises (MNEs) enhance information control to improve their assessment of host country terrorist incidents, and increase their levels of within-country geographic diversification to mitigate the negative impact of terrorist incidents. Further, MNEs’ likelihood of using information control and within-country geographic diversification in response to host country terrorist attacks is influenced by the cognitive frame diversity of their top management teams (TMTs). Drawing on TMT diversity and cognition research, we propose that TMT cognitive frame diversity is a function of TMT gender diversity. Subsequently, MNEs’ likelihood of information control and within-country geographic diversification in response to host country terrorist attacks is contingent upon their TMTs’ gender diversity. Using a sample of 89 Fortune US 100 companies and their foreign subsidiaries between 2005 and 2014, we find that as the severity of terrorism in a host country increases, MNEs are more likely to increase information control and within-country geographic diversification. In addition, the relationship between terrorism severity and the increase in information control is stronger for MNEs with female representation in TMT than for MNEs with all-male TMT.

The Relationship Between Top Management Team Diversity and Firm Innovation Output: A Meta-Analysis

We conduct a meta-analysis on the relationship between top management team (TMT) task-related diversity and firm innovation output. Empirical evidence from 74 primary studies containing 25,968 firm observations shows that TMT task-related diversity has a positive relationship with innovation output. Building on this finding, we demonstrate that TMT task-related diversity has a positive association with radical innovation, but not with incremental innovation output. Moreover, we find positive relationships between TMT task-related diversity and innovation output quantity as well as innovation output quality. In some additional analyses, we further show that TMT bio-demographic diversity is not related to firm innovation output. Thus, it seems that diversity in expertise, skills, and knowledge are important for fostering innovation in firms. The study contributes to research on the TMT diversity-firm innovation relationship. Based on the findings, we develop opportunities for future research.

The Interaction Effect Among Top Management Teams Diversity: Evidence from the Indonesian Banking Sector

Penelitian pada topik tim manajemen puncak (TMT) telah menjadi perhatian para akademisi dalam beberapa decade terakhir. Para peneliti berupaya menginvestigasi dampak dari komposisi TMT terhadap kinerja perusahaan dengan baik melalui hubungan langsung maupun tidak langsung. Komposisi TMT memanifestasikan ciri personal anggota tim yang biasanya direfleksikan dari keberagaman tim. Hanya saja, berbagai penelitian terdahulu gagal menghasilkan kesimpulan yang konsisten terkait permasalahan tersebut. Penelitian ini mengusulkan pendekatan alternatif dengan menguji efek interaksi antar variable keberagaman tim. Upaya ini didasarkan kepada asumsi bahwa karakteristik personal pada dasarnya berinteraksi antara satu dengan yang lainnya sebelum tercermin pada perilaku. Penelitian ini menggunakan tiga bentuk keberagaman yaitu keberagaman sebagai separasi, sebagai variasi, dan sebagai disparitas. Data dikumpulkan dari laporan tahunan perusahaan pada industry perbankan yang terdaftar di pasa sekunder dari tahun 2011 sampai 2017. Hasil pengujian memperlihatkan bahwa keberagaman tenure dan usia berdampak langsung terhadap kinerja perusahaan, dan efek interaksi secara nyata muncul antar keberagaman latar belakang fungsional, tenure dan usia terhadap kinerja perusahaan.

The impact of gender diversity on the relationship between managerial entrenchment and corporate social responsibility: evidence from UK companies

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to argue the relationship between managerial entrenchment (ME), corporate social responsibility (CSR) and gender diversity. Specifically, this paper aims to empirically examine the impact of board gender diversity (BGD) and gender diversity in top management teams (TMTs) on the relationship between ME and CSR.Design/methodology/approachThis study uses panel data set of 300 UK companies listed during 2005-2017.FindingsThe results show that the positive relation between CSR and ME is more pronounced in companies where the level of women on the board is higher. However, women in TMT moderate this positive relationship.Research limitations/implicationsWomen in TMT may be less responsive to shareholders’ preference for reduced company CSR concerns, but a higher percentage of women on the board can mitigate this effect.Originality/valueThis study suggests the dynamic relationship between CSR and ME.

Does Board Gender Diversity Bring Better Financial and Governance Performances? An Empirical Investigation of Cases in Taiwan

Gender diversity, one of the core streams of top management team (TMT) diversity research, poses a theoretical argument valuable for firms—whether gender diversity among board members can lead to improved performance. Increased research attention on the relationship between gender diversity and the financial and governance performance of firms has produced inconclusive results. This study shapes the gender diversity of corporate boards by defining six compounding elements, which is the major contributor to the literature of gender diversity. This study aims to provide a more complete and precise assessment of the impact of gender diversity on a firm’s performance and corporate governance performance from the Taiwanese experience. The evidence in Taiwan suggests that increased board gender diversity does not have a positive effect on financial and governance performance. Only the ratio of female independent directors is found to have a significantly positive association with a firm’s performance, supporting prior findings that directors with greater independence are better able to perform their monitoring function and thus contribute to performance. The results also demonstrate that female directors having concurrent posts is a critical factor in enhancing corporate governance performance. Female directors with prior experience as serving directors or supervisors in other companies can offer diverse opinions and network ties, thus contributing to improved cohesion and corporate governance. The findings of this research can contribute to both literature and practice in board gender diversity issues and can serve as an empirical basis for enterprises in optimizing their board composition.

Does Diversity in Top Management Teams Contribute to Organizational Performance? The Response of the IBEX 35 Companies

This study contributes to the dissemination of the theoretical and empirical knowledge on the Upper Echelons Theory, considering training and demographic diversity in Top Management Teams (TMTs) as a unique feature of companies, in our case, the IBEX 35 companies. Based on the results, we can confirm that the inclusion of women in management teams positively influences the sales of a company and contributes to increasing financial results. Age and knowledge of two or more languages are important factors in achieving an increase in financial performance. From the point of view of business practice, the results obtained are useful for increasing knowledge of which TMT characteristics are valid, which allows for better results and the establishment of responsible organizational policies that promote the inclusion of gender diversity in TMTs. In addition, the results of this study indicate that the incorporation of members of other non-Spanish nationalities would constitute a distinctive feature of a company and would enrich it not only financially, but also culturally.

Top Management Team Diversity and the moderating effect of Discretionary Accounting Choices on Financial Reporting Quality among Commercial State Corporations in Kenya

The study aims to examine the moderating effect of discretionary accounting choices on the relationship between top management demographic diversity and financial reporting quality among state commercial firms in Kenya based on 248 firm-year observations for 2004 -2015. The study used correlational research design to achieve the sought objectives. It lays a broad foundation for the future research work into the theory and practice of financial reporting quality in commercial state corporations. The findings clearly reveal that, there exist both positive and negative relationship between discretionary accounting choices and financial reporting quality. However, the relationship varies with each financial reporting quality proxy measures. The demographic variables that were statistically significant in explaining FRQ were; age, education, tenure, gender and functional background diversity. Hence, managerial characteristics matter in explaining discretionary accounting choices and financial reporting quality in the companies. Despite the findings showed minimal significant effects on earnings quality and timeliness. Discretionary accounting choices should not be used by the management opportunistically but should be used to enhance quality reporting. The study recommends that stakeholders in commercial state corporations should ensure that discretionary accounting choices is improved to decrease manipulations of accounting information in order to increase the quality of reporting.

Let's explore with a divided team! The effects of top management team demographic faultlines on technological exploration

AbstractResearch on top management team (TMT) diversity suggests that diverse backgrounds improve technological exploration. However, this diversity may also cause demographic faultlines that break a team into subgroups and undermine team performance, and the status difference between CEO and top managers may change inter-subgroup dynamics. We predicted that TMT faultline had an inverted U-shape relationship with technological exploration. Further, we predicted that the effects of TMT faultline were more prominent when the CEO is in the minority subgroup than when the CEO was in the majority subgroup. Using a longitudinal sample from the US IT services industry, the results found that TMT faultline exhibited an inverted U-shape relationship with technological exploration only when the CEO was in the minority subgroup, and such relationship disappeared when the CEO was in the majority subgroup.

TMT diversity and innovation ambidexterity in family firms

PurposeFamily firms that simultaneously engage in multiple levels of innovation – incremental and radical – are likely to enjoy performance advantages across generations. The purpose of this paper is to research under which management conditions (i.e. top management team (TMT) diversity in terms of generational or non-family involvement) family firms are more likely to achieve innovation ambidexterity. Also, the paper addresses the mediating role of open innovation (OI) breadth in this relationship.Design/methodology/approachA large cross-sectional sample of 335 small- and medium-sized family firms is used. The hypotheses were tested in a mediation model. The relationship between TMT diversity and ambidexterity is measured using a binominal regression analysis, the one between TMT diversity and OI breadth using a Tobit model.FindingsDrawing on the family firm upper echelon perspective, the results indicate that TMT diversity induced through external managers and multiple generations is positively related to innovation ambidexterity. As the mediation analysis reveals, the relationship can be explained by the higher propensity of diverse TMTs to get involved in OI breadth. The findings add to the discussion on family firm heterogeneity and its influence on different kinds of innovation.Originality/valueSo far, few studies have been concerned with ambidextrous family firms. Contrary to their reputation, this study identifies family firms as radical as well as open innovators. As such, this research takes account not only of the heterogeneity of family firms, but also of the heterogeneity of family firm innovation.

Does TMT cultural diversity contribute to firm performance and do socialisation and tenure matter? A test of two competing perspectives

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to establish the effect of top management team (TMT) cultural diversity on firm performance with a framework that considers such an effect from both cost and benefit perspectives. The paper also examines whether and how diversity management mechanisms such as socialisation and tenure may moderate the effect of TMT diversity on firm performance.Design/methodology/approachDrawing upon two competing perspectives of resource-based view (RBV) and transaction cost economics (TCE), this paper theorises and tests the potential positive and negative effects of TMT cultural diversity on firm performance with 442 publicly listed IT companies in the USA.FindingsThe results supported the RBV prediction that TMT cultural diversity enhances firm performance and socialisation strengthens the positive effects of a culturally diverse TMT on firm performance. However, tenure was not found to be important in promoting diversity gains or mitigating diversity costs. By showing clear support for the RBV prediction of the positive impact of TMT cultural diversity and refuting the TCE prediction of the potentially negative effects, this research strengthens the business case for embracing cultural diversity in TMTs.Originality/valueThis paper contributes to the current literature by developing a more balanced framework to deepen our knowledge of how TMT cultural diversity may impact firm performance, and how the use of socialisation and tenure may moderate the TMT cultural diversity–firm performance relationship from both cost and benefit perspectives.