Gender Diversity in Top Management Teams and Innovation Capabilities: The Initial Public Offerings of Biotechnology Firms

The initial public offering (IPO) is an important stage in the life cycle of research-based firms. The purpose of this article is to examine the influence of gender diversity in top management teams (TMTs) on the success of the IPO of research-based firms. We also explore how critical indicators of innovation capabilities for those types of firms can mediate the gender effect. To test a set of hypotheses, we carried out a longitudinal study of a sample of dedicated biotechnology firms that went public in the United States. Results suggest there is a negative and significant relationship between gender diversity in executive management and IPO success in the specific context of the biotechnology industry. However, the effect of innovation capabilities reduces and causes no significant influence of such type of demographic diversity in TMTs. (C) 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.