Enhancing innovation through gender diversity: a two-country study of top management teams

Abstract

Purpose Building on upper echelons theory, the authors advance the literature on the influence of diversity on innovation by studying the link between top management team (TMT) gender diversity and innovation performance and the link's boundary conditions. Design/methodology/approach The authors analyze survey data from 390 manufacturing establishments in Germany and India through an ordinary least square (OLS) regression analysis. Findings TMT gender diversity is positively related to innovation performance. The influence of gender diversity on innovation performance is not strengthened by team level attributes, including cognitive proficiency and openness to external information. In contrast, TMT gender diversity enhances innovation performance more strongly in Germany than in India, indicating the relevance of country-level cultural norms for leveraging gender diversity. Research limitations/implications The authors' study is built on data from two countries only, based on TMTs in the manufacturing sector and cross-sectional. Future studies may address these limitations by considering more countries, examining TMTs in the service sector and applying experimental or longitudinal research designs. Practical implications Executives should establish gender diverse TMTs to enhance innovation performance and leverage diverse views of male and female managers effectively. Managers located in countries with strongly hierarchical cultural norms should promote egalitarian values at the organizational level to increase the effectiveness of gender diverse TMTs. Originality/value This is the first study which examines the moderating effect of country-level cultural norms on the relationship between TMT gender diversity and innovation performance.