M51 - Personnel Economics: Firm Employment Decisions; PromotionsReturn

This study explores whether companies´ experience benefits when the firm's CEO and owner are both women. It employs data from the 2009-2014 World Bank Enterprise Surveys (WBES) to measure firms' performance through growth in sales and productivity. Potential endogeneity was corrected by using the UN Gender Development Index and the average fertility rate as they comply with the exclusion restrictions. The paper uses the Control Function method with a Probit first stage estimation and an OLS main equation. The findings suggest that a female owner strengthens the female CEO's business skills and leads to better firm performance than when the CEO is a woman and the owner is a man.

The paper attempts to assess the added value of women in management in the context of the Czech Republic. The wider purpose is to contribute to the debate for the need of gender-balanced top managerial teams. It additionally contributes new inputs to the discussion as to whether quotas or other special measures are relevant to promote or engage more women in higher management positions within both the Czech public and private sectors. According to the results, Czech respondents view women as added value to management given the different characteristics of their approach over that of their male counterparts. However, the research reveals that women who obtain higher managerial positions demonstrate the same set of characteristics as men. In conclusion, the promotion system is designed for candidates that demonstrate typically male characteristics.