Female CEOs, SMEs performance and internationalization: empirical evidence from European peripheral and Nordic countries

PurposeThis study aims to determine the performance of women-led small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) relative to male-led SMEs in the context of European peripheral and Nordic countries, concerning sales, employment, productivity, investment, export intensity and innovation.Design/methodology/approachWe conduct an empirical analysis using an instrumental variable (IV) and a quantile IV quantile regression approach to analyze data drawn from the World Bank Enterprise Surveys (WBES) database.FindingsThe authors find that the performance of women-led SMEs relative to male-led SMEs is better in innovation and equal in other dimensions; in Nordic Countries, it is equal; and in peripheral countries, it is higher in innovation and investment but worse in sales and productivity growth, mainly in median-performing firms; in non-exporting SMEs, it is worse in sales and employment growth and better in investment and innovation; and in exporting SMEs with the highest employment growth rates, it is worse in this dimension.Research limitations/implicationsPolicymakers interested in reducing gender gaps should support CEOs by investing in policies designed to actively support female entrepreneurs, especially if they are in domestic firms (e.g. mentorship, networking and partnership programs; export coaching).Originality/valueThe paper innovates by focusing on different measures of firm performance and considering the importance of socio-cultural factors as performance determinants. The value of this novel approach is confirmed by the results, which clearly show that SME’s performance cannot be extrapolated from single indicators alone and is strongly affected by contextual factors.