Gender and decision-making styles in male and female managers of Chilean SMEs

PurposeThis article aims to analyze how gender and decision-making styles of Chief Executive Officers (CEOs) of Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) impact the financial performance of the firms they manage.Design/methodology/approachData were obtained for 2017 for 185 SMEs in Chile, an emerging economy, including firm information, CEO's sociodemographic characteristics and CEOs' decision-making styles. Generalized Least Squares (GLS) models were estimated to explain the influence of gender and decision-making styles on firm performance, controlling for a series of covariates. To test whether gender moderates the effect of decision-making styles on firm performance, interaction terms were included. Furthermore, models were subject to several robustness procedures, with no significant differences in results.FindingsThe authors find evidence of significant relationships for both gender and the avoidant style. Likewise, the authors find evidence of interaction effects between gender and decision-making styles, particularly between gender and the dependent style.Originality/valueFindings contribute to prior research by analyzing the relationship between CEO gender and SME performance in the context of a Latin American emerging economy; by providing evidence of the impact of decision-making styles on the financial performance of SMEs; and by examining how a specific decision-making style, namely the dependent style, operates differently according to CEO gender, shedding some light on its ambiguous character as described by prior research. For policymakers and authorities, findings indicate the importance of incorporating women to SMEs and supporting their way towards higher management.