Gender diversity within R&amp;D teams: Its impact on radicalness of innovation

Díaz-García, Cristina; Moreno, Ángela González; Sáez‐Martínez, Francisco J.

doi:10.5172/impp.2013.15.2.149

Cited by 267 publications

(129 citation statements)

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“…These theories suggest that greater diversity in salient, demographic features, such as gender, causes group members to employ divisive categorisations that often yield negative consequences. On the other hand, several scholars have found that gender diversity promotes innovation, creativity (Østergaard et al, ; Díaz‐García et al, ; Fernández Sastre, ) and productivity (Wood, ), with no evidence for increased conflict (O'Reilly et al, ; Pelled et al, ). Such positive effects of diversity have often been explained in terms of the value‐in‐diversity hypothesis (Cox et al, ), which argues that differences amongst group members result in increased information availability, perspectives, knowledge and skills (Jehn et al, ; Ely and Thomas, ).…”

Section: Theoretical Background and Hypothesesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Diversity is strategy: the effect of R&D team diversity on innovative performance

2016

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Diversity in the workplace has attracted significant interest in organisations that want to attract and retain talented employees. Breakthrough innovation requires a wider knowledge base, and organisations increasingly rely on multidisciplinary R&D teams to identify scientific developments that bridge gaps and reduce time to market. However, research on the performance implications of R&D team diversity remains limited and the empirical evidence inconsistent. This paper investigates the impact of surface and deep‐level diversity on R&D teams’ innovative performance and how diversity dimensions interact to drive innovation. We find supportive evidence that R&D team characteristics influence innovation outcomes, confirming our hypothesising that diversity is a valuable strategy for an organisation to pursue as it provides greater cognitive ability. Each diversity facet however has its own distinct effects depending on the novelty of innovation and industry. Yet, diversity is not solely positive and excessive heterogeneity could be detrimental to R&D team performance. Our findings suggest that high diversity in gender or skills in cognitively diverse teams might be negative attributes to take into consideration. Senior managers and organisations should therefore consider the appropriate mix of capabilities to benefit from creativity in diverse R&D teams and avoid possible conflict and distrust associated with diversity.

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Section: Theoretical Background and Hypothesesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Diversity is strategy: the effect of R&D team diversity on innovative performance

2016

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“…Also the Resource Dependence Theory (Pfeffer, 1973;Pfeffer & Salancik, 1978) bolsters this aspect and confirm with strenght that companies with a more balanced gender composition: improve the quality of corporate governance (and its outcomes) and the functioning of the boards and committees; achieve better results in terms of attendance at board meetings (by reducing the absenteeism rate of male members and leading to the best possible strategic decisions) (Note 1), boost innovation (Nielsen & Huse, 2010;Østergaard, Timmermans, & Kristinsson, 2011;Galia & Zenou, 2012;Diaz-Garcia, Gonzalez-Moreno, & Saez-Martinez, 2013); provide the company with prestige and legitimacy (Bernardi, Bean, & Weippert, 2002;Brammer, Millington, & Pavelin, 2009;Fernandez-Feijoo, Romero, & Ruiz, 2012;Lückerath-Rovers, 2013) with regard to several groups of stakeholders such as employees (Note 2), customers and investors (reputational effect) that can consequently contribute to better corporate performance. These effects are particularly due to the typically female leadership styles and managerial skills: flexibility, attention to people, ability to manage relationships, negotiation skills and conflict management within the organization -encouraging feedback and dialogue, willingness to share power and decision-making, collaborative leadership style, tendency to give others responsibilities, a greater risk-aversion (Rosener, 1997;Adams, Hermalin, & Weisbach, 2008).…”

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confidence: 84%

The Market Reaction to the Appointment of Women on Corporate Boards: Evidence from the Italian Listed Companies

Pastore¹,

Tommaso²,

Ricciardi³

2017

IJBM

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During the 2012-2016 period, a large number of Italian companies appointed women directors in their boards, an unusual and unpredictable fact in the Italian industrial system. This paper investigates if any significant reaction has consequently occurred in the Italian stock market. It assumes that a significant market reaction would indicate the investors view the female board members as a strategic value added at the decision making level. To achieve the objective, it was collected a database consisting of 76 appointments of women directors in 67 Italian listed companies over the period 2012-2016 and then it was investigated the stock price performance of those companies in that five years span. The research hypothesis is examined empirically through the event study methodology in order to check the existence of abnormal returns on the appointment of women directors. Findings suggest that investors do not strongly believe that the simple appointment of women directors would have a positive effect on the future performance of firms.

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“…Furthermore, using data from French firms, Galia and Zenou (2012) In Spain, the empirical literature has found a positive impact. In a sample of Spanish firms, Díaz-García et al (2013) observed that gender diversity is positively related to radical innovations but it does not encourage incremental innovations. More recently, Teruel and Segarra (2017) analyse the impact of gender diversity on the probability of developing product, process, marketing and organizational innovations.…”

Section: Gender Diversity and Innovationmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In the last decades, Spain has considerably improved gender opportunities, although is still to be done in terms of wage equality, participation in managerial positions and presence in political life (World Economic Forum, 2016).The growing presence of women in the Spanish labour market has raised awareness regarding the effect of gender diversity on firm performance and especially the potential of Spanish innovation-based firms. This has increased the interest of researchers when analysing the effects of gender diversity in the entire workforce (Romero-Martínez et al, 2017;Teruel and Segarra, 2017) and in R&D teams (Díaz-García et al, 2013;Fernández-Sastre, 2015) on innovation output.…”

Section: The Analysis Of Gender Diversity and Innovation Is Particulamentioning

confidence: 99%

“…This work, however, has several methodological limitations, since the user data has been taken from only four firms. As far as we are aware, Díaz-García et al (2013) andFernandez-Sastre (2015) show that gender composition affects all types of innovation, particularly those concerning products and organization strategies.…”

Section: Gender Diversity and Innovationmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Gender Diversity, R&D Teams and Patents: An Application to Spanish Firms

Teruel

Segarra‐Blasco

2017

SSRN Journal

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Previous results show that gender diversity increases the probability that firms invest in R&D and engage in innovation. This paper explores the relationship between gender diversity of R&D departments and their capacity to patent. Based on the Spanish Community Innovation Survey between 2004 and 2014, we apply a two-step procedure in order to control for endogeneity. Although gender diversity affects OEPM patents negatively, its impact is non-significant for patents with international coverage (EPO, USPTO, or PCT). A relevant result is the fact that the generation of patents is positively affected by the diversity of categories in the R&D labs. Our results highlight that, gender diversity of R&D teams does not play a relevant impact on the capacity of the firm to register patents. However, the diversity according to the professional role in R&D teams exerts a positive influence. In sum, the key question is not the gender diversity per se but the gender diversity jointly with the professional status.

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Gender diversity within R&D teams: Its impact on radicalness of innovation

Cited by 267 publications

References 1 publication

Diversity is strategy: the effect of R&D team diversity on innovative performance

Diversity is strategy: the effect of R&D team diversity on innovative performance

The Market Reaction to the Appointment of Women on Corporate Boards: Evidence from the Italian Listed Companies

Gender Diversity, R&D Teams and Patents: An Application to Spanish Firms

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