'Girl Power': Female Participation in Top Management and Firm Performance

We study female participation in top management. Female participation below the CEO level has a positive association with several measures of firm performance but having a female CEO has either a neutral or negative association. The positive associations below the CEO level are entirely driven by firms pursuing an “innovation intensive” strategy, where collaboration among colleagues may be especially important. Our results are thus consistent with the notion of a “female management style” that enhances the performance of senior management by facilitating collegiality but is rendered less effective by the leadership attributes of the CEO position.