One shero and/or a group of sheroes? Top executive gender and innovation in tech-based new venture

Abstract Strategic leadership theories, especially the upper-echelon perspective, emphasize the critical role of the top management team (TMT) in determining a firm’s short- and long-term performance. However, there is limited evidence on whether the gender of strategic leaders matters to firm innovation—which determines a firm’s long-term competitiveness, especially in new ventures. More specifically, at the TMT level, whether the gender of CEO, as the leader of TMT, influences the gender composition of the TMT remains unknown. Drawing on the notion of CEO-TMT interface and the opposing views on gender in leadership, this article examined the determinant role of CEO gender on the gender composition of the TMT, which in turn affects the venture’s innovation performance. The contextual role of a prominent CEO trait, i.e., CEO self-efficacy in shaping the CEO gender-TMT gender composition linkage was also tested. Findings from a sample of 300 Chinese tech-based new ventures indicate that female CEOs are more likely to appoint female TMT members, supporting the “similarity-attraction effect/homophily view” but failing to support the “queen bee syndrome theory.” Moreover, female representation in TMT is positively related to the innovation of new ventures. Finally, the positive link between female CEO and female representation in TMT is stronger when CEO self-efficacy is relatively lower.