Female Underperformance Hypothesis Revisited: Methodological Review and Empirical Testing

Abstract

Comparison between the performance of female and male-managed firms has long been a subject of research interest. Although the argument is that firms run by women have lower performance than those run by men, there is no agreement on the effects of managerial gender on companies’ financial outcomes. This study conducts a methodological review of quantitative research on the relationship between female business leadership and firm performance from 2010 to 2020. This review identifies the most frequently used dependent and explanatory variables and econometric models in the literature. Most studies have not considered endogeneity bias in their model specifications; therefore, these results could be biased and unreliable. We select empirical models to test the female underperformance hypothesis using a sample of Chilean firms. Our findings suggest that managers’ gender does not significantly affect business performance when endogeneity is addressed. Our methodological review reveals a significant gap in the research on female managers and firm performance in the Latin American context, and the empirical test provides new evidence in this vein.