Breaking the TMT glass ceiling: Myth or reality? Female CEOs, decision authority, and family firms
研究女性CEO是否与高管团队中女性比例更高相关，以及CEO决策权如何影响这一关系，发现该效应在家族企业中不显著。
• TMT female representation is higher in firms led by a female CEO. • The CEO’s decision authority positively moderates this relationship. • These results are not significant in family firms. • Attraction-selection-attrition model and role congruity theory explain our findings. • Our study advances gender, organizational design, and family business literature. Women can bring significant benefits to organizations but continue to face barriers to breaking the glass ceiling at the TMT level. Drawing on the attraction-selection-attrition model and role congruity theory, we examine whether the presence of a female CEO is associated with higher female representation in the TMT and how the CEO’s decision authority influences this relationship. Analyzing survey data from 153 Italian firms, our results confirm a positive relationship between the presence of a female CEO and TMT female representation and a positive moderating effect of the CEO’s decision authority on this relationship. Nevertheless, these effects lose significance in family firms, suggesting that these organizations may be less conducive to promoting gender equality. Our findings contribute to the literature at the intersection of gender, organizational design, and family business.