Does staff gender matter for project performance in international organizations? Evidence from the Asian Development Bank

The performance of aid projects matters for development. Yet what shapes performance is insufficiently understood. According to interdisciplinary research on organisational management and bureaucratic representation, the gender of operational leaders in complex organisations can have a discernible effect on all aspects of the project cycle. Using a novel dataset specifically constructed for this research from complete documentation available for 3,500 Asian Development Bank projects, the analysis examines whether the gender of project leaders matters in explaining variation in project performance. These projects are targeted financial investments and technical support programmes implemented by Asian Development Bank in developing countries to build infrastructure, strengthen social services, and boost economic development. The study tests this relationship using multinomial-ordered logistic regressions and entropy matching. Testing the hypothesis that women’s leadership positively influences project outcomes, the analysis finds significant positive associations with efficiency ratings, while associations with relevance, effectiveness, and sustainability, though positive, are not statistically significant. This article contributes to the literature by estimating the differential impact of women vs men project managers on disaggregated performance measures. This research establishes potential mechanisms and opens avenues for future discourse.