The rise of women and their impact on firms' performance

Charbel Salloum (1) , Georges Azzi (2) , Catherine Mercier-Suissa (3) , Stephanie Khalil (4)

1 USEK - Université Saint-Esprit de Kaslik
2 LPA-GBMI - LABORATOIRE DE PHYSIQUE APPLIQUEE, Groupe des Biomatériaux et des Matériaux Intelligents
3 Laboratoire de Recherche Magellan
4 Manufacturing System Integration (MSI) Research Institute, Wolfson School

This paper aims to understand how the presence of women in management positively affects firms' financial performance. In order to validate our hypotheses, we used a quantitative method to collect data and performed an inquiry by surveying the top 30 Lebanese firms. The results showed that the presence of women in management in Lebanon is not positively correlated with firms financial performance. Women occupying high managerial positions are most probably a member of the family owning the business, and therefore they are not directly concerned with the management of the business. Moreover, a large number of the surveyed females in our sample are married. Consequently, their priorities change, and they put their family before their career development.

Mots clés: women managers; managerial structures; glass ceiling; financial performance; female managers; firm performance; Lebanon; family business; family firms; family priority; career development.

Domaines: Sciences de l'Homme et Société; Economies et finances

Charbel Salloum, Georges Azzi, Catherine Mercier-Suissa, Stephanie Khalil. The rise of women and their impact on firms' performance. International Journal of Entrepreneurship and Small Business, 2016, 27 (2/3), pp.213-246. ⟨10.1504/IJESB.2016.073976⟩. ⟨hal-01265940⟩