Does gender still matter? An examination of small business performance
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Does gender still matter? An examination of small business performance Kip Kiefer & Mark Heileman & Timothy L. Pett
Accepted: 14 September 2020 # Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature 2020
Abstract This study provides novel insights into gender differences in small business outcomes. We analyze the first publicly available microdata from the 2007 US Census Bureau PUMS dataset, in a manner similar to (Fairlie and Robb’s in Small Business Economics, 33, 375–395 2009) analysis of the 1992 CBO dataset, and explore differences in female-led versus male-led firms’ business performances over a 15-year period. Findings indicate that gender differences persist and that femaleled businesses continue to trail male-led businesses in survival rates, profits, employment (i.e., firm size), and sales. We also extend the work by (Fairlie and Robb in Small Business Economics, 33, 375–395 2009), by examining new performance and predictor measures, including payroll firm and longevity. We find that femaleled businesses trail male-led businesses in these variables as well. However, the news is not all bad. Our findings also reveal that, although female-led businesses continue to trail male-led businesses in performance outcomes, both female- and male-led businesses are improving and in some cases performance
K. Kiefer (*) : M. Heileman : T. L. Pett Department of Business, 1000 Holt Ave, Rollins College, Winter Park, FL 32789, USA e-mail: [email protected]
M. Heileman e-mail: [email protected] T. L. Pett e-mail: [email protected]
improvements by female-led businesses are out-pacing their male-led counterparts. Keywords Female entrepreneurship . Gender . Performance . Human capital . Financial capital JEL classifications J15 . L26
1 Introduction The moderate rate of business ownership among women continues to be a worldwide phenomenon (Bardasi et al. 2011; Fairlie and Robb 2009). Although anecdotal evidence suggests that female start-up and business ownership rates are increasing in the United States, the rate of female-led businesses remains at only about 36% (Lichtenstein 2014). In absolute terms, female-owned businesses continue to be fewer than those businesses owned by males and the gap appears to be growing. Despite prior research on gender differences, we still know relatively little regarding why female-led businesses underperform male-led firms. While prior studies have investigated the relationships between financial capital, human capital and other factors and the differences in firm performance by gender (Fairlie and Robb 2009; Fairlie and Robb 2007), more research is required to understand, longitudinally, the evolving business landscape with regard to gender. However, the ability to study gender disparities in business is often problematic because information for substantial samples of female-owned businesses are relatively limited.
K. Kiefer et al.
Fortunately, in August 2012, the US Census Bureau made publicly available, for the first time, a large sample of small business data from
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