Customer Orientation and Financial Performance: Women in Top Management Teams Matter!
基于财富500强企业的纵向分析，研究发现高层管理团队中女性影响力的提升与公司客户导向及长期财务绩效正相关，且客户导向起部分中介作用。
Using a longitudinal analysis of publicly traded Fortune 500 firms, the authors find support for their hypotheses that a relative increase in female influence in the top management team (FITMT) is positively associated with (1) customer orientation of the firm and (2) long-term financial performance (i.e., Tobin's q). They demonstrate that customer orientation partially mediates the relationship between FITMT and long-term financial performance. The authors also explore environmental and corporate governance factors that moderate the link between FITMT and customer orientation. They find that this link is attenuated for firms that operate under high environmental dynamism and low environmental discretion, and for firms with high family ownership. Having high female representation among board members and more marketing-experienced board members strengthens the link between FITMT and customer orientation. These findings have important implications for scholars, boards, chief executive officers, and investors interested in identifying environmental and corporate governance factors that facilitate a greater focus on customers at the highest levels of the firm.