Gender diversity in the workforce and new firms' capacity to innovate : Insights into tech start-up teams

The present thesis examines the relationship between innovation and gender diversity in the workforce, through the lens of new firms in the Stockholm Tech start-up ecosystem. Taking a point of departure in a knowledge-based understanding of innovation and firm dynamics, the study explores the relationship between gender and innovation at the firm level. First, the theoretical framework is built on relevant literature and empirical research in a multidisciplinary fashion. Then, a qualitative inquiry is designed with the aim of contributing to the growing research corpus in the intersection of gender diversity and firm capacity to innovate. Employing a qualitative interviewing method, data was collected among founders and founding team members of entry-level tech start-ups in Stockholm. The objective was to document how founders and entrepreneurs, in general, approach gender diversity when building their start-up teams. The analysis reveals that gender diversity, albeit acknowledged as an input to innovative performance, is not prioritized over other human capital aspects, such as talent. This is in line with the bulk of literature that studies the diversity in knowledge base and firm performance, hence highlighting the cognitive aspects of innovation process. The thesis findings are of considerable benefit both for broadening the extant approach to innovation process and for understanding gender diversity dynamics in the workforce