Organizational femininity, entrepreneurial orientation and firm performance

Abstract

This study makes an attempt to investigate the organizational culture which is identified with feminine values or feminine principles and its relationship with firm performance. To distinguish from the traditional description of "feminine organizational culture", which represents an organizational culture promoting gender equality, this study contributes a new concept "organizational femininity", which refers to a pattern of organizational culture which is identified with a set of feminine values, beliefs, and traits in an organization. This study also empirically tests its relationship with firm performance in the Chinese context. Moreover, this study explores the moderating effects of entrepreneurial orientation on the relationship between organizational femininity and firm performance. Gender Role Diversity, Employee Orientation, Emotional Orientation, Family Orientation and Interdependence Orientation are identified as five dimensions of organizational femininity. Empirical results reveal that four of the dimensions have significant positive effects on firm performance. Results also indicate complex relationships among organizational femininity dimensions, entrepreneurial orientation dimensions and firm performance. Theoretical and managerial implications of these findings are discussed in detail, followed by the presentation of the limitations and suggestions for future studies.