Glass ceiling in SMEs? Women, managerialization and performance

This article analyses the role of women in a sample of Italian small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs), both non-family and family owned businesses. We assume that the existence of a glass ceiling implies that women are not in a position to exercise an active role in the company; ownership per se does not assure the elimination of the glass ceiling, while the broader involvement of women in governance and management roles, as we may suppose in family firms, may represent a better situation for removing the glass ceiling. We analyzed data from a survey of 313 SMEs in Italy. Findings reveal that family SMEs are a more favourable context for removing the glass ceiling, even though it still remains in top management and governance positions. Results also show that in non-family firms, managerial mechanisms, are more relevant when women are involved in governance and managerial roles. Moreover, only in non-family firms the presence of women in corporate governance and top management teams influence competitive performance and company growth positively, and a relationship with company profitability is found. On the contrary, in family firms, our findings do not outline neither the active role of women favouring firm managerialization, nor the positive impact of glass ceiling removal on firm performance, especially growth and competition