Do Ownership Gender Diversity and Size Matter? A Focus on Intellectual Capital Performance

Abstract

The study investigates whether ownership gender diversity and size impact on intellectual capital performance of Italian SMEs. The investigation is carried out through cross-sectional OLS analysis. The intellectual capital performance, the dependent variable, is measured through VAICTM. The ownership gender diversity and size, the independent variables, are measured through a gender diversity index and the number of owners, respectively. The findings show that both gender diversity and size negatively impact on intellectual capital performance. They also show that size tends to moderate the effect of gender diversity on intellectual capital performance.

Which Relationship between Gender Diversity, Intellectual Capital and Financial Performance?

“…the gender diversity of both ownership and board of directors, has a negative impact on the latter. Concerning gender diversity in ownership, the finding supports the argument pushed forward by Chiucchi, Giuliani, and Poli (2018a;2018b). Concerning gender diversity in board of directors, the finding allows extending the knowledge of the relationship between gender diversity and IC performance as it is the first one that is focused on this issue with reference to board of directors in Italian SMEs.…”

“…Alternatively, it can be the proportion of equity held by male (female) owners. Although they are conceptually different and each of them, as well as together, deserves to be observed, they are highly correlated within the sample of companies used and, more in general, within Italian SMEs (Chiucchi, Giuliani, & Poli, 2018a;Chiucchi, Giuliani, & Poli, 2018b). If both of them were included in the same regression equation, due to their high correlation, collinearity problems would emerge.…”

“…In the context of Italian private companies, value added is the sum of operating profit, total cost for employees, depreciation and amortisation, and provisions (Chiucchi, Giuliani & Poli, 2018a;Chiucchi et al, 2018b).…”

“…When the gender diversity in ownership is considered, p can be understood and calculated in different ways (Chiucchi, Giuliani, & Poli, 2018a;Chiucchi, Giuliani, & Poli, 2018b). It can be the proportion of male (female) owners.…”