The Influence of CEO Gender on Market Orientation and Performance in Service Small and Medium‐Sized Service Businesses

Abstract

This study examines the effects of CEO gender on market orientation and performance (growth and profitability) among a sample of small and medium‐sized service businesses. Gender was found to have significant indirect effects (via market orientation) on both market performance (growth) and financial performance (profitability). That is, female‐led service SMEs perform significantly better due to their stronger market orientation relative those led by males. The findings further suggest that female‐led firms were slightly better than their male‐led counterparts in transmitting market performance into financial performance, although the differences were not statistically significant.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Peter S. Davis

Peter S. Davis is Professor of Management in the Belk College of Business at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte.

Emin Babakus

Emin Babakus is First Tennessee Professor and Professor of Marketing in the Fogelman College of Business and Economics at The University of Memphis.

Paula Danskin Englis

Paula Danskin Englis is Associate Professor of Management in the Campbell School of Business at the Berry College; and Associate Professor in the Dutch Institute for Knowledge Intensive Entrepreneurship (Nikos) at The University of Twente.

Tim Pett

Tim Pett is Associate Professor, Director, Center for Entrepreneurship in the W. Frank Barton School of Business at the Wichita State University.