The Gender Structure of Owners and the Innovative Activity of Enterprises
Purpose: The impact of gender on enterprise innovation is a relatively new yet broad research topic. Existing literature often explores the gender composition of management, employees, or RandD teams, but the influence of owners’ gender structure on product and process innovations remains underexplored. In this context, the aim of the article is to determine the impact of the gender structure of enterprise owners, in different size classes, on the implementation of product and process innovations. Design/methodology/approach: This study applies univariate probit modeling, selected due to the binary nature of the dependent variable. The dataset covers enterprises located in Southern Europe, from Spain and Portugal, through Italy and Greece to Türkiye. Findings: The results confirm that female ownership positively affects both product and process innovation. The most favorable ownership structure is mixed-gender rather than exclusively male- or female-owned. For product innovation, firms with female-majority ownership were found to be more innovative than those primarily owned by men, while no such relationship was confirmed for process innovation. Moreover, as company size increases, changes in ownership gender composition positively influence product innovation. Practical implications: Practical implications include: a) Supporting women’s entrepreneurship, as female-majority micro and small firms are more likely to implement product innovations; b) Stimulating firm growth, since larger enterprises display higher innovation potential; c) Fostering women’s competence development and reducing promotion barriers to management positions; d) Recognizing ownership gender structure as a relevant factor for investors and business support institutions in innovation assessment. Originality value: The relationship between enterprise size and the link between ownership gender structure and innovation has never been discussed in the literature, making this study a potentially original contribution to the field.