Does gender matter for innovative and non-innovative firms’ growth? An empirical analysis of Chilean managers

Firm growth has been a focus of attention for a large number of studies. However, the influence of a firm's manager is still absent from many of these analyses. Departing from the data of the Longitudinal Survey of Businesses from Chile, the aim of this article is to analyse the relationship between innovation and firm growth depending on the sex of the leader between 2007 and 2015. Applying econometric models of quantiles with fixed effects, the results reveal that there is a positive relationship between innovation, firms led by women and sales growth. In particular, male managers exert a negative impact on the firm growth. This impact is particularly more important for non-innovative firms. Finally, the growth rate increases if a female manager replaces to a male manager. Conversely, the growth rate decreases if a male manager replaces a female manager.