Gender and business performance

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online

at

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jo u r n al h om ep ag e :h t t p : / / w w w . e l s e v i e r . c o m / l o c a t e / i s m

Gender

and

business

performance

Danielle

Khalife

∗

,

Amani

Chalouhi

HolySpiritUniversityofKaslik(USEK),Kaslik,Jounieh,446,Lebanon

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r

t

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c

l

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Keywords: Genderdiversity Familybusiness Financialperformance

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ThepurposeofthisstudywastocomparetheLebanesefemale-ownedsmallfirmsand theLebanesemale-ownedsmallfirmswithrespecttothefirm’sbusinessperformance,the owner’shumancapitalandthefirm’sbusinesscharacteristics.Basedonasampleof30 Lebanesesmallfirms(18male-ownedand12femaleownedfirms),whichoperateinthe differentLebaneseregionswetriedtodemonstratethatgenderhasanimpactonfinancial performance.Adescriptivemethodologywasfollowed,informationwascollectedthrough aselfadministeredquestionnaireandthedatawasanalyzedthroughSPSS.Ourfindings showedstrongevidencethatfemale-ownedsmallfirmsdifferfrommale-ownedsmallfirms accordingtotheirgrossrevenues.Ingeneral,theygeneratelowergrossrevenuesthando thecounterparts.However,nosignificantdifferenceswerefoundbetweenfemaleandmale ownersintermsoftheirincomes.Moreover,wefoundthatthedifferenceingrossrevenues canbeexplainedbyfactorsrelatedtotheowner’slevelofeducation,theowner’sbusiness experience(althoughitdisappearedfromtheregressionmodel),thefirm’sageandthefirm’s size.

1.

Introduction

Existing studies that examine and compare female-owned firmsandmale-owned firmsaccordingtothebusiness per-formanceindevelopingcountries arefew. Thisfactcan be explained by the differences in social structures between developed and developing countries, as well as the social roles associatedwith men and women inthese countries. In general,developing countries are characterized bytheir masculinity.Thistypeofresearchhasreceivedanimportant attentioninwesterncountries duetotheirsocialstructure thattreatsmenandwomenequally;howeverstudiestrying togeneralizethewesternfindingstodevelopingcountriesare

∗ _{Corresponding}_author_._Tel.:₊₉₆₁₉₆₀₀_852;_fax:₊₉₆₁₉₆₀₀_801. E-mailaddress:[email protected](D.Khalife). PeerreviewunderresponsibilityofHolySpiritUniversityofKaslik.

yettobeexamined (Learner,Brush,& Hisrich,1997).Thus, thelackofresearchesandtheoriesregardingcomparisonof maleandfemaleperformanceindevelopingcountriesmakes itanimportantsubjecttobeinvestigated.Ontheotherside, the interestinmenand women’sentrepreneurshipsinthe MENAregionhasspurredanumberofstudies.Thefindingsof thesestudiesrevealedthatwomenintheMENAregion oper-ate across arange ofbusinesssectorsand, insomecases, withemploymentlevelsaheadofmostwomen-ownedfirms in Western Europe and North America. According to this, women’s firmshavethe samechancestosucceedasthose headed bymen (Kalleberg & Leicht, 1991). Concerning the relationship between gender and business performancein Lebanon,carefulattentionwaspaidinordertodetectifthere Open access underCC BY-NC-ND license.

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isanysignificantdifferencebetweenfemale-andmale-owned firms.Manyresearchesshowedthattheperformanceofthe Lebanese firmsheaded bywomen issimilar tothe perfor-manceofthoseheadedbymen.Nodoubtthatthesefindings contradicttheresultsofseveralstudiesthat showthatthe shareoffemale-ownedfirmsinLebanonissignificantlylow, incomparisonwithothercountries,(nearly30%)(WorldBank Enterprisesurveydata,2003).Duetothiscontradiction,the purposeofourstudyistodetermineifthereisanysignificant differenceinbusinessperformanceofLebanesesmallfirms accordingtogender.Furthermore,ifwefoundadifferencein businessperformancebetweenLebanesefemale-ownedfirms andLebanesemale-owned firms,wewould seekto investi-gateifthisdifference couldbeexplainedbyfactorsrelated totheowner’shumancapitalorthefirm’sbusiness charac-teristics.Lebanonisasmallcountrythatmightnothavethe financialresourcesoftheGulfortheinstitutionsofNewYork andLondon,butthepastseveralyearshaveseenbiggains bysmallagencieswithlowbudgets.Inaddition,OmarHabib, formerdirectorofclientservicesatInterestingTimes,notes that Lebanon isaninnovator inthe region because ofthe well-educated, multilingual and business-savvy workforce. Thus,acquiringcomprehensiveknowledgeoftheLebanese small firms, their entrepreneurs and the gender effect on theirperformanceshouldaccruemanybenefitsformany rea-sons:firstofall,identificationofthevariablesassociatedwith businessperformancecouldhelpthebusinessowners,push themtodeveloptheircapabilitiesandgivethemadditional values.Secondly,suchtypeofstudiesshedlighton “women-in-management”anditalsotriestoshowthatthereisnothing essentiallymasculineorfeminine,theseconceptsareseenas sociallyconstructedandmayvarywithtimeandplace.Third, byexploringtheworkingenvironmentforfemalesinLebanon, thisstudycanhelpLebanesewomentobreakthebarriersand trytoattainthesamelevelsofopportunitiesattainedbymen.

2.

Thedifferenceinbusinessperformancebetweenfemale-and male-ownedfirmswasthemainpurposeofmanyrecent stud-ies.However,thefindingsofthesestudieswereinmostcases contradictory.Forexample,KallebergandLeichtfoundthat woman’sfirmswerenotmorelikelytofail,norless success-fulthanthoseheadedbymen(Kalleberg&Leicht,1991).No doubtthattheresultsoftheseauthorscontradictedseveral other studies that concluded that male-owned businesses generally outperform female- owned businesses (Loscocco, 1991; Fisher,Reuber,& Dyke,1993; Shim & Eastlick, 1998). Twomainindicatorswereusedtomeasurethebusiness per-formance:thefirm’sgrossrevenueandtheowner’sincome. Concerningthe firm’s grossrevenue, many researchesand studieswere conductedinorder tofindthe genderimpact onthesmallfirm’sgrossrevenue.Onegroupofstudieshas foundthatfemale-ownedbusinessesarelessprofitablethan male-ownedbusinesses(Loscocco,1991;Fasci&Valdez,1998; Loscocco&Robinson,1989).However,anothergroupof stud-ieshasfoundfewdifferencesaccordingtothegrossrevenuein comparisonoffemale-andmale-ownedbusinesses(Watson, 2002;Chaganti&Parasuraman,1996).Ontheotherside,many

others studies were interested in the earnings differences betweenmenandwomen,mostofthesestudiesshoweda per-sistentgenderdifferenceinincomebetweenself-employed male and female. Inother terms,these studies foundthat femaleowners,onaverage,earnlessthanmaleowners.And the most surprisingthing isthat the difference inincome betweenself-employedmenandwomenisevengreaterthan employed men and women. These findings showed that female-owned businesseshad lower earnings comparedto male-owned businesses.Thedifferences wereattributedin earningsbetweenfemaleandmaleownerstocreditmarket orconsumerdiscrimination.Accordingtoseveralresearches andstudies,thisdifferenceinbusinessperformancecanbe explained by factors related tothe owner’s humancapital andthefirm’sbusinesscharacteristics.Forexample,Loscocco thoughtthatforsmallbusinesses,humancapitalcanbe con-sidered as animportantfactor that influencesthe success ofthebusinesswhichmaybetranslatedinhigherearnings. Kallebergdefinedhumancapitalbythepersonalattributed and hesaid that the differencesin thepersonal attributes ofmenand women are thereasonwhy male-owned busi-nesses outperform female-owned businesses.Furthermore, priorresearchesagreedthattheincomeandgrossrevenuegap betweenfemale-andmale-ownedfirmscanbeexplainedby thedifferencesinthebusinesscharacteristics.Thusbusiness characteristicsarelikelytoaccountforanymale–female dif-ferencesinbusinessrevenuesandowner’searnings.Loscocco showed that for small firms, a strong link exists between businesscharacteristicsandpersonalsuccess.AbdullahKh. Alowaihan found a significant difference between women-owned businessesandmen-ownedbusinesseswithrespect tothebusinesscharacteristics(Alowaihan,2004).

3.

Variables

and

hypotheses

3.1. Performanceindicators

In this paper we are going to use two main indicators in ordertomeasurethefirm’sbusinessperformance:thefirm’s grossrevenueandtheowner’sincome.Wemeanbythefirm’s grossrevenue,themoneygeneratedbyallofthecompany’s operationsbeforedeductionsforexpenses.Grossrevenueis inmostcasesusedbytheownerstoevaluatetheirbusiness success.Moreover,thegrossrevenueisthemostimportant measure of a company’s profitability because generating profitsismainlythefirstpurposeforanyfirm.Inthispaper, weareinterestedinthegrossrevenue,forthefirmsownedby thetestedsubjects,onlyforthelast3years.Concerningthe owner’sincome,itissubjecttothedirectcontroloftheowner himself,anditcanbeconsideredasanimportantindicator ofthesurvivalchancesofanyfirmbecausetosurvive,small firmsmustcovertheircostsandpaytheirownersenoughto makealiving.Alsofortheowner’sincomeweareinterested intheincomeonlyforthelast3years.

For theﬁrm’sgrossrevenuewewere interestedinthree maincategories:

• 0–50billion • 100–200billion • Others

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Alsoforthe owner’sincomewewereinterestedinthree maincategories:

• 0–60million • 60–100million • Others

3.2. Owner’shumancapital

Humancapitalisdeﬁnedasstocksofskills,knowledge, intel-ligenceandhealththatcouldbeusedtogenerateresources. Threevariablesofhumancapitalaregoingtobetested: 3.2.1. Owner’sbusinessexperience

Weusedonewaytomeasure thebusinessexperience: the numberofyearsanownerhadbeeninanindustry:

• 0–5years; • 5–10years;

• Morethan10yearsofexperience. 3.2.2. Owner’slevelofeducation

Thelevelofeducationcanbemeasuredbythedegreeowned bythetestedsubject:

• Collegedegree;

• Universitydegree(BA–Masters–Ph.D); • Higher

3.2.3. Owner’sage

Onewaytomeasuretheowner’age: • Dateofbirth.

3.3. Firm’sbusinesscharacteristics

Threeaspectsofbusinesscharacteristicswillbedevelopedin ordertoﬁndtheirimpactontheﬁrm’sperformance:

3.3.1. Firm’ssize

Thewayweusedtomeasurethefirm’ssizeisthenumber offull-timeemployeesthefirmhasbecauseinouropinion Lebanesefirmsespeciallysmallonesare stilldependingon theiremployeesnotonthehugelevelofmachineryand tech-nology,thusthenumberofemployeesisbestindicatorofthe Lebanesesmallfirms’size.Wewereinterestedinthefollowing threecategories:

• 0–50employees; • 50–100employees; • Other

3.3.2. Firm’sage

Thefirm’sageisrelativetothenumberofyearssincethefirm wasestablished.Itisrepresentativetotheindustryexperience forthefirm.Weusedacategoricalformat:

• 0–2years; • 3–7years; • 8–10years;

• Morethan10years.

3.3.3. Firm’sbusinesssector Fivecategoriesareincluded: • Service;

• Trade; • Financial; • Manufacturing; • Other

Inaccordancewiththeliteraturereview,itisreasonableto expectthatinLebanon,female-ownedfirmsgeneratelower grossrevenuesthanmale-ownedfirms.Furthermore,female ownershavelowerincomesthanmaleowners.Therefore: Hypothesis1. InLebanon,female-ownedsmallfirmsare pos-itivelycorrelatedwithlowergrossrevenuesthanmale-owned smallfirms.

Hypothesis2. Lebanesefemaleownersarepositively corre-latedwithlowerincomesthanLebanesemaleowners.

ThefollowinghypothesesarecontingentuponH1andH2, inotherwordsifwefoundthatLebanesefemale-ownedsmall firmsarepositivelycorrelatedwithlowergrossrevenueand income,thenitwouldbeveryimportanttoseekthereasons behindthisincomeandgrossrevenuegap.Accordingto sev-eralresearchesandstudies,thatdifferencecouldbeexplained bymanyfactors.Inthispaper,wearegoingtoshedlighton twomainfactorsthatmayhaveadirectimpactonafirm’s performance:owner’shumancapitalandfirm’sbusiness char-acteristics.Therefore,ourlasttwohypothesesareasfollows: Hypothesis3. Thefirm’sperformanceispositivelycorrelated withthehumancapitalofthefemaleormaleowner. Hypothesis4. Thefirm’sperformanceispositivelycorrelated with the business characteristics of the female- or male-ownedfirm.

4.

Research

methodology

The study was conducted in Lebanon in its five regions; the population consisted of all the Lebanese small firms’ femaleandmaleowners.Aconvenientsampleofsubjectswas selectedrandomly(60%male–40%female),(40%Beirut–24% Mount Lebanon–16% North–13% South–7% Bekaa). In this paper,aquantitativeapproachwasfollowedtoexaminethe relationshipsandinteractionsamongvariables,andtheinfo wascollectedthroughself-administeredquestionnaires;the questionswereeitherclose-endedquestionsorpartiallyopen questions.Inordertomeasurethevariablestwotypesofscale wereused:nominalscaleandordinalscale.Thecloseended andthepartiallyopenquestionswereanalyzedthroughSPSS. Moreover,descriptive statistics and themultiple regression analysiswereused,andthedatawasclassifiedintofrequency tablesandtheresultswereillustratedintopiediagramsand bargraphs.

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Table1–Groupstatistics.

Gender N Mean Std.deviation Std.errormean

Firm’sgrossrevenue2010 Female 12 1.1667 0.38925 0.11237 Male 18 1.7222 0.46089 0.10863

Table2–Independentsamplestest.

t df Sig.(2-tailed) Meandifference Std.errordifference 95%Conﬁdenceintervalofthedifference

Lower Upper

−3.434 28 0.002 −0.55556 0.16180 −0.88699 −0.22412

−3.555 26.303 0.001 −0.55556 0.15629 −0.87664 −0.23447

5.

Results

Usingasampleof30Lebaneseowners,wearegoingto con-trolperformanceindicators,owners’humancapital,aswell asfirms’businesscharacteristics.Inthisway,wewillbeable tofindsupportfortheviewthatthedifference inbusiness performancebetweenfemale-andmale-ownedfirmscanbe explainedby factors related to the owner’s human capital andthefirm’sbusinesscharacteristics.Furthermore,weare goingto constructamultipleregression equationto better understandtherelationshipbetweenbusinessperformances, owner’shumancapitalandfirm’sbusinesscharacteristics.

5.1. Performanceindicators

For this sectionwe are goingtouse the “two independent samplest-test”.

5.1.1. Firm’sgrossrevenue

Table1presentsthegroupstatisticswithrespecttotheﬁrm’s grossrevenueandTable2presentstheresultsofthe indepen-dentsampletest.

Based on the sample, the yearly gross revenue of the female-ownedsmall firmsison average1.1667 (between0 and50billion)howevertheyearlygrossrevenueofthe male-ownedsmallfirmsisonaverage1.7222(between50and100 billion).Sobasedonthesampleonecanconcludethaton aver-age,femaleownedsmallfirmsgeneratelowergrossrevenues than male owned small firms; a result that is statistically significantas evidencedbythe independentsamplesttest (tcalc=−3.434,pval=sig/2=0.001Table2).

5.1.2. Owner’sincome

Table 3 representsthe group statistics with respectto the owner’sincomeandTable4representstheresultsofthe inde-pendentsamplestest.

Based on the sample, the yearly incomeof the female ownersisonaverage1.3333(between0and60million) how-evertheyearlyincomeofthemaleownerisonaverage1.6667 (between60and100million).Howeverthisresultisnot statis-ticallysigniﬁcantasevidencedbytheindependentsamplest test(tcalc=−1.833,pval=sig/2=0.0385Table4).Therefore,one shouldrejecttheclaimthatisbasedonthesample;thereisa signiﬁcantdifferenceinowners’incomesbetweenfemaleand maleowners.

Whatisthemostsurprisinginthesefindingsisthat,based onthesample,femaleownersdonotearnlowerincomesthan maleownerswhiletheirfirmshaveonaveragelowergross rev-enuesthandomale-ownedfirms.Thisrealitycanbeexplained by thefact that personalearnings are moresubjectto the directcontroloftheownerhimself,sofemalesinLebanon,in generalprefertosethighincomesthatallowthemtogetbetter lifestylesratherthantoinvestthismoneyintothefirm’sfavor. Lebanesefemaleentrepreneursthinkthathavingamassive incomeistemptingwithoutthinkingofthebestthingfortheir firm’ssurvival.Thisbehaviorcanberelatedtothewomen’s decision-makingstylewhichisbasedonthe“feeling”asthe primaryjudgingprocess.

As aresult,onlythe ﬁrm’sgrossrevenueis goingtobe consideredasabusinessperformanceindicator.

5.2. Owner’shumancapital

Asitwasmentionedintheprevioussections,threevariablesof humancapitalaregoingtobeanalyzed:owner’sage,owner’s level of education and owner’s business experience. The

Table3–Groupstatistics.

Gender N Mean Std.deviation Std.errormean

Owner’sincome2010 Female 12 1.3333 0.49237 0.14213 Male 18 1.6667 0.48507 0.11433

Table4–Independentsamplestest.

T Df Sig.(2-tailed) Meandifference Std.errordifference 95%Conﬁdenceintervalofthedifference

Lower Upper

−1.83 28 0.077 −0.33333 0.18185 −0.70583 0.03917

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Table5–Gender×owner’sagecrosstabulation.

1952 1955 1957 1960

Gender Female Count 0 0 0 1

Expectedcount 0.4 0.4 0.4 1.6 %withingender 0.0% 0.0% 0.0% 8.3% %withinbirthdate 0.0% 0.0% 0.0% 25.0% %oftotal 0.0% 0.0% 0.0% 3.3%

Male Count 1 1 1 3

Expectedcount 0.6 0.6 0.6 2.4 %withingender 5.6% 5.6% 5.6% 16.7% %withinbirthdate 100.0% 100.0% 100.0% 75.0% %oftotal 3.3% 3.3% 3.3% 10.0% 1961 1962 1965 1970 1972 1975 1976 1977 0 0 0 1 2 2 1 1 0.4 0.4 1.2 1.6 1.2 0.8 0.4 0.4 0.0% 0.0% 0.0% 8.3% 16.7% 16.7% 8.3% 8.3% 0.0% 0.0% 0.0% 25.0% 66.7% 100.0% 100.0% 100.0% 0.0% 0.0% 0.0% 3.3% 6.7% 6.7% 3.3% 3.3% 1 1 3 3 1 0 0 0 0.6 0.6 1.8 2.4 1.8 1.2 0.6 0.6 5.6% 5.6% 16.7% 16.7% 5.6% 0.0% 0.0% 0.0% 100.0% 100.0% 100.0% 75.0% 33.3% 0.0% 0.0% 0.0% 3.3% 3.3% 10.0% 10.0% 3.3% 0.0% 0.0% 0.0% 1978 1979 1980 1983 1984 1 1 0 1 1 0.4 0.8 0.8 0.4 0.4 8.3% 8.3% 0.0% 8.3% 8.3% 100.0% 50.0% 0.0% 100.0% 100.0% 3.3% 3.3% 0.0% 3.3% 3.3% 0 1 2 0 0 0.6 1.2 1.2 0.6 0.6 0.0% 5.6% 11.1% 0.0% 0.0% 0.0% 50.0% 100.0% 0.0% 0.0% 0.0% 3.3% 6.7% 0.0% 0.0%

relationshipbetweenthe owner’sgenderand eachofthese threevariableswillbemeasuredbyusingthe“chi-squaretest”.

5.2.1. Owner’sage

Table5presentsthecrosstabulationbetweentheowner’s gen-derandtheowner’sageandTable6presentstheresultsofthe chisquaretestwithrespecttotheowner’sage

• Ofthe30respondents,12(or40%)arefemaleand18(or60%) aremale.

Table6–Chisquaretest.

Value df Asymp.Sig.(2-sided)

Pearsonchi-square 18.889 16 .274 Likelihoodratio 24.792 16 .074 Numberofvalidcases 30

• Ofthe12femalerespondents,10(or83.2%)arebornbetween 1972and1984whileonlytwo(or16.8%)arebornbetween 1952and1970.

Table7–Gender×owner’slevelofeducationcrosstabulation.

Education Total

Collegedegree BAdegree Master’sdegree

Expectedcount 6.4 3.2 2.4 12.0 %withingender 16.7% 33.3% 50.0% 100.0% %withineducation 12.5% 50.0% 100.0% 40.0% %oftotal 6.7% 13.3% 20.0% 40.0% Male Count 14 4 0 18 Expectedcount 9.6 4.8 3.6 18.0 %withingender 77.8% 22.2% 0.0% 100.0% %withineducation 87.5% 50.0% 0.0% 60.0% %oftotal 46.7% 13.3% 0.0% 60.0%

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Table8–Chi-squaretest.

Value df Asymp.sig. (2-sided)

Pearsonchi-square 14.375 2 0.001 Likelihoodratio 17.234 2 0 Numberofvalidcases 30

Table9–Symmetricmeasures.

Value Approx. Sig.

Nominalbynominal Phi 0.692 0.001 Cramer’sV 0.692 0.001 Numberofvalidcases 30

• Ofthe18malerespondents,four(or22.3%)arebornbetween 1972and1984while14(or77.7%)arebornbetween1952and 1970.

Thisresultcannotbestatisticallysigniﬁcantasevidenced bytheresultofthechisquaretest(X2₌_18.889_Pval₌_sig₌_0.274 Table6).

Mostofthe studies that were interestedin this typeof subjectshavefoundthattheageoftheownerisan impor-tantdeterminantthatmayexplainthedifferenceinbusiness performancebetweenfemale-ownedfirmsandmale-owned firms;however,inourstudythisvariablewillnotbetakeninto considerationsincethereisnosignificantdifferencebetween femalesandmalesaccordingtotheirdateofbirth.Inother terms,basedonthesample,thedifferenceinbusiness per-formancebetweenfemale-andmale-ownedfirmscannotbe explainedbytheowner’sagevariable.

5.2.2. Owner’slevelofeducation

Table7presentsthecrosstabulationbetweentheowner’s gen-derandtheowner’slevelofeducation,Table8presentsthe resultsofthechisquaretestwithrespecttotheowner’slevel ofeducationandTable9presentstheresultsofthesymmetric measures.

• Ofthe12femalerespondents,two(or16.7%)holdacollege degree,four(or33.3%)holdaBAdegreeandsix(or50%)hold amaster’sdegree.

Table11–Chi-squaretest.

Value df Asymp.sig. (2-sided)

Pearsonchi-square 12.563 2 0.002 Likelihoodratio 14.976 2 0.001 Numberofvalidcases 30

Value Approx. Sig.

• Ofthe 18male respondents,14 (or77.8%)hold acollege degree,four(or22.2%)hold aBAdegreeand noneofthe malerespondentsholdsamaster’sdegree.

According to the resultsof the chisquare testone can conclude that based on the sample, there is a significant relationshipbetweengenderandlevelofeducation.Inother terms,femaleownersaremorelikelytoholdhigherdegrees thandomaleowners.FromthevalueofCramer’sVof0.692, onecanconcludethattherelationshipbetweengenderand education should beregarded asvery high andsignificant. Itisnotvery surprisingtofindthatfemalesare more edu-catedthanmales,sinceitiswellknownthatoppositetomen, womentendtoprovethemselvesintheireducationand diplo-mas,whilemen,ontheotherside,prefertoprovethemselves intheircareersandtendtoentertheworkplaceearlier.

Higheducatedownersare abletosucceedintheir busi-nesses more than others who donot have ahigh level of education.However,it seemsthatLebanese femaleowners do not beneﬁtfrom their high level of education to have betterbusinessperformance.Moreover,thelowlevelof educa-tioncannotbeconsideredasanobstacletobusinesssuccess amongLebanesemale-ownedﬁrms.Toresume,inLebanon, womenaremoreeducatedthanmenbutthis factdoesnot affecttheirperformanceatwork.

5.2.3. Owner’sbusinessexperience

Table10 presentsthecrosstabulation betweenthe owner’s genderandtheowner’sbusinessexperience,Table11presents theresultsofthechisquaretestwithrespecttotheowner’s

Table10–Gender×owner’sbusinessexperience.

Experience Total

0–5years 5–10years Morethan10years

Expectedcount 2.4 2.8 6.8 12.0 %withingender 50.0% 25.0% 25.0% 100.0% %withinexperience 100.0% 42.9% 17.6% 40.0% %oftotal 20.0% 10.0% 10.0% 40.0% Male Count 0 4 14 18 Expectedcount 3.6 4.2 10.2 18.0 %withingender 0.0% 22.2% 77.8% 100.0% %withinexperience 0.0% 57.1% 82.4% 60.0% %oftotal 0.0% 13.3% 46.7% 60.0%

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Table13–Gender×ﬁrm’sage.

Firm’sage

0–2years 3–7years 8–10years Morethan10years

Expectedcount 2.0 1.6 2.4 6.0 %withingender 41.7% 16.7% 16.7% 25.0% %withinﬁrm’sage 100.0% 50.0% 33.3% 20.0% %oftotal 16.7% 6.7% 6.7% 10.0% Male Count 0 2 4 12 Expectedcount 3.0 2.4 3.6 9.0 %withingender 0.0% 11.1% 22.2% 66.7% %withinﬁrm’sage 0.0% 50.0% 66.7% 80.0% %oftotal 0.0% 6.7% 13.3% 40.0%

businessexperienceandTable12presentstheresultsofthe symmetricmeasures.

• Ofthe12femalerespondents,six(or50%)havebetween0 and5yearsofexperience,three(or25%)havebetween5and 10yearsofexperienceandthree(or25%)havemorethan 10yearsofexperience.

• Ofthe18malerespondents,four(or22.2%)havebetween 5and10yearsofexperience,14(or77.8%)havemorethan 10yearsofexperience.Noneofthemalerespondentshas between0and5yearsofexperience.

Fromtheresultsofthechisquaretest,onecanconclude thatthereisalsoasignificant relationshipbetweengender andbusinessexperience.Thus,maleownersaremorelikelyto havemorebusinessexperiencethandofemaleowners.From thevalueofCramer’sVof0.647,onecanconcludethatthe relationshipbetweengenderandbusinessexperienceshould beregardedasveryhighandsignificant.Mentendtoprove themselvesintheircareers;thatiswhytheyputthemajority oftheireffortintheirprofessions,whichallowsthemtobuilda strongbusinessexperience.Asaresult,onecanconcludethat thelackofbusinessexperiencecanbeconsideredasamajor obstacletobusinesssuccessamongLebanesefemale-owned firms.

5.3. Firm’sbusinesscharacteristics

Similartotheowner’shumancapital,threevariablesoffirm’s businesscharacteristicsaregoingtobecontrolled:firm’sage, firm’ssizeandfirm’sbusinesssector.Furthermore,the rela-tionshipwillbemeasuredusingthe“chi-squaretest”. 5.3.1. Firm’sage

Table13presentsthe crosstabulationbetweentheowner’s genderand the ﬁrm’sage, Table14 presents the resultsof thechisquaretestwithrespecttotheﬁrm’sageandTable15 presentstheresultsofthesymmetricmeasures.

Table14–Chi-squaretest.

Value Df Asymp.sig.(2-sided)

• Ofthe 12 female-ownedﬁrms, ﬁve(or 41.7%)have been establishedsince2years,two(or16.7%)between3and7 years,two(or16.7%)between8and10yearsandthree(or 25%)havebeenestablishedformorethan10years.

• Ofthe18male-ownedﬁrms,two(or11.1%)havebetween 3and7yearsofestablishment,four(or22.2%)between8 and10 yearsand12 (or66.7%)havebeen establishedfor morethan10years.Noneofthemale-owned ﬁrmshave beenestablishedsincetwoyears.

According to the chi square test, there is a significant relationshipbetweengenderandfirm’sage.Inotherterms, male owners are more likely to own older firms than do femaleowners.Thisresultcanbeconsideredasstatistically significant (X2₌_10.278 _Pval₌_sig₌_0.016). _From _the _value _of

Cramer’sVof0.585,onecanconcludethattherelationship between genderand firm’sage shouldberegarded as very highandsignificant.Thefactthatmale-ownedfirmsareolder thanfemale-ownedfirmsimpliesthatmale-ownedfirmshave higherlevelofexperiencethanfemale-ownedfirms.Andthis mayexplainthedifferenceinbusinessperformance.Thus,we canconcludethatmale-ownedfirmsaremoreabletodevelop theircompetenciesaswellastheirperformance.Asaresult, theperformanceoftheLebanesesmallfirmsdoesnotdecline asthefirmsgrowup.

5.3.2. Firm’ssize

Table16presents thecrosstabulation betweenthe owner’s genderandtheﬁrm’ssize,Table17presentstheresultsofthe chisquaretestwithrespecttotheﬁrm’ssizeand Table18 presentstheresultsofthesymmetricmeasures.

• From the12 female-ownedﬁrms, 11(or91.7%)have less than50employeeswhileonlyonefemale-ownedﬁrm(or 8.3%)hasbetween50and100employees.

• Fromthe18male-ownedﬁrms,10(or55.6%)havelessthan 50employeesandeight(or44.4%)havebetween50and100 employees.

Table15–Symmetricmeasures.

Value Approx.sig.

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Table16–Gender×ﬁrm’ssize.

Firm’ssize Total

0–50employees 50–100employees

Gender Female Count 11 1 12

Expectedcount 8.4 3.6 12 %withingender 91.70% 8.30% 100.00% %withinﬁrm’ssize ##### 11.10% 40.00% %oftotal ##### 3.30% 40.00% Male Count 10 8 18 Expectedcount 12.6 5.4 18 %withingender ##### 44.40% 100.00% %withinﬁrm’ssize ##### 88.90% 60.00% %oftotal ##### 26.70% 60.00%

Firm’ssize Total

0–50employees 50–100employees

Expectedcount 8.4 3.6 12 %withingender 91.70% 8.30% 100.00% %withinﬁrm’ssize 52.40% 11.10% 40.00% %oftotal 36.70% 3.30% 40.00% Male Count 10 8 18 Expectedcount 12.6 5.4 18 %withingender 55.60% 44.40% 100.00% %withinﬁrm’ssize 47.60% 88.90% 60.00% %oftotal 33.30% 26.70% 60.00%

Firm’sSize Total 0–50employees 50–100employees

ExpectedCount 8.4 3.6 12.0 %withingender 91.7% 8.3% 100.0% %withinﬁrm’ssize 52.4% 11.1% 40.0% %oftotal 36.7% 3.3% 40.0% count 10 8 18 Expectedcount 12.6 5.4 18.0

Male %withingender 55.6% 44.4% 100.0% %withinﬁrm’ssize 47.6% 88.9% 60.0%

%oftotal 33.3% 26.7% 60.0%

#####:Nocalculationavailable.

Table17–Chi-squaretest.

Value df Asymp.sig.(2-sided) Exactsig.(2-sided) Exactsig.(1-sided)

Pearsonchi-square 4.471 1 0.034 Continuitycorrection 2.917 1 0.088 Likelihoodratio 5.037 1 0.025

Fisher’sexacttest 0.049 0.040

Numberofvalidcases 30

Basedontheresultsofthechisquaretest,onecanconclude that based onthe simpleobservations, there issignificant relationshipbetweengenderandfirm’ssize.Female-owned firmsaremorelikelytobesmallerthanmale-owned firms.

Value Approx.Sig.

Nominalbynominal Phi 0.386 .034 Cramer’sV 0.386 .034 Numberofvalidcases 30

A result considered as statistically signiﬁcant (X2₌_4.471

Pval=sig=0.034).FromthevalueofCramer’sVof0.386,one canconcludethattherelationshipbetweengenderandfirm’s sizeshouldberegardedashighandsignificant.Wefindstrong evidence that inLebanon,female-owned firmsare smaller in total number of full-time employees than male-owned firms, which may affect their business performance;since the number offulltime employees canbe directly related tothefirm’sproductivity.Inotherterms,thenumberoffull timeemployeesispositivelycorrelatedwiththelevelof pro-ductivity whichisalsopositively correlatedwiththe firm’s businessperformanceandviceversa.Thustheperformance

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Table19–Gender×ﬁrm’sbusinesssector.

Firm’sBusinessSector Total Service Trade Financial Manufacturing

Gender Female Count 5 3 1 3 12

Expectedcount 2.4 5.2 1.2 3.2 12.0 %withingender 41.7% 25.0% 8.3% 25.0% 100.0% %withinﬁrm’sbusinesssector 83.3% 23.1% 33.3% 37.5% 40.0% %oftotal 16.7% 10.0% 3.3% 10.0% 40.0%

Male Count 1 10 2 5 18

Expectedcount 3.6 7.8 1.8 4.8 18.0 %withingender 5.6% 55.6% 11.1% 27.8% 100.0% %withinﬁrm’sbusinesssector 16.7% 76.9% 66.7% 62.5% 60.0% %oftotal 3.3% 33.3% 6.7% 16.7% 60.0%

Table20–Chi-squaretest.

Value df Asymp.sig.(2-sided)

oftheLebanesesmallﬁrmsdeclinesasthesizeoftheﬁrms declines.

5.3.3. Firm’sbusinesssector

Table19presentsthe crosstabulationbetweentheowner’s genderandtheﬁrm’sbusinesssectorandTable20presents theresultsofthechisquaretestwithrespecttotheﬁrm’s businesssector.

• Fromthe12female-ownedfirms,five(or41.7%)operatein theservicesector,three(or25%)operateinthetradesector, one(or8.3%)operatesinthefinancialsectorandthree(or 25%)operateinthemanufacturingsector.

• Fromthe18male-ownedfirms,one(or5.6%)operatesinthe servicesector,10(or55.6%)operateinthetradesector,two (or11.1%)operateinthefinancialsectorandfive(or27.8%) operateinthemanufacturingsector.

This result cannot be statistically signiﬁcant as evidenced by the result of the chi square test (X2₌_6.322

Pval=sig=0.097Table 20). As it can beobserved, Lebanese femaleentrepreneursdonotfocusonthelessprofitable sec-torsoftheeconomy.Similartomen,womeninLebanontend tooperateinthedifferentsectorsoftheeconomy.So,inour study,thefirm’sbusinesssectorcannotbeusedasan impor-tant determinantinexplaining the differences inbusiness performancebetweenfemale-ownedandmale-ownedfirms.

6.

Discussion

and

conclusion

TheresultsofourstudycanberesumedinTable21:Theresults showastrongsupporttoH1:“inLebanon,female-ownedsmall firmsarepositivelycorrelatedwithlowergrossrevenuethan male-ownedsmallfirms.”However,H2isrejected:“Lebanese female ownersare positively correlated withlower income thanLebanesemaleowners”.Moreandmore,concerningH3 abouttheowner’shumancapital,theresultsshowapartial support:thedifferenceingrossrevenuescanbeexplainedby factorsrelatedtotheowner’slevelofeducationandbusiness experience;theowner’sagedoesnothaveanydirectimpact onthefirm’sgrossrevenue.Alsotheresultsshowapartial sup-porttoH4:thegrossrevenuegapbetweenfemale-ownedand male-owned isrelatedtothefirm’sageand thefirm’ssize. Thefirm’sbusiness sectorcannotbeusedasanimportant determinantinourstudy.

ComparingLebanesefemale-ownedandmale-ownedfirms with respect to the firm’s business performance, owner’s humancapital andthe firm’s businesscharacteristics, was themainpurposeofourstudy.Insampleofover30Lebanese small firmsoperatinginthedifferentLebanese regions,we foundstrongevidencethatfemale-ownedfirmsdifferfrom male-ownedfirmsaccordingtotheirgrossrevenues.In gen-eral,male-ownedfirmsgeneratehighergrossrevenuesthan dotheircounterparts.Ontheotherside,nosignificant differ-enceswerefoundbetweenfemaleownersandmaleowners interms oftheirincomes. Inspiteofthefact thatwomen owners,inoursample,haveonaveragethesameincomesas menowners,itseemsthatwomenthinkthathavingamassive incomeistemptingwithoutthinkingofthebestthingfortheir firms’survival;sotheychoosetosethighincomeswhichallow themtogetbetterlifestyles.Thisbehaviormaybeexplained

Table21–Studysummary.

Gender Remarks

Grossrevenue Significantdifference Female-ownedhavelessgrossrevenuesthanmale-ownedfirms Income Nosignificantdifference

Owner’sage Norelationship

Owner’slevelofeducation Veryhighrelationship Femaleownersholdhigherdegreesthanmaleowners

Owner’sbusinessexperience Veryhighrelationship Femaleownershavelessbusinessexperiencethanmaleowners Firm’sage Veryhighrelationship Female-ownedareyoungerthanmale-owned

Firm’ssize Highrelationship Female-ownedaresmallerthanmale-owned Firm’sbusinesssector Norelationship

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bythedifferenceinthedecision-makingstylebetweenmen andwomen.Usually,menutilize“thinking”asaprimary judg-ingprocess,whilethefemininestyleismorebasedonthe “feeling” as a primary judging process. The results of our studyareconsistentwithotherresearchfindingswhich indi-catedthatthedifferenceingrossrevenuescanbeexplained byfactorsrelatedtotheowner’shumancapitalandthefirm’s businesscharacteristicsaswell.Inoursample,womenowners hadhigherlevelofeducation.Aplausibleexplanationisthat womentendtoprovethemselvesintheireducationand diplo-mas;howevertheywerenotabletousetheirhigheducational leveltotheiradvantage,andthereforetheydonothavethe sufficientbusinessskills,animportantkeyforeverybusiness success.Ontheotherhand,men,inthissample,tendedto entertheworkplaceearlierandhadahigherbusiness expe-rience,which canbeconsidered asanimportantfactor for businesssuccess.So,thewomen’sdisadvantagewithrespect tothebusinessexperiencehascontributedtotheirlowergross revenues.Nosignificant difference wasfound withrespect to the owner’s age in this sample. Accordingly, this factor cannotbeusedtoexplainthedifference ingrossrevenues betweenLebanesefemale-ownedandLebanesemale-owned smallfirms.Concerningthefirm’sage,basedonthesample, male-ownedfirmswereolderthanfemale-ownedfirms;which implies that male-owned firms were moreable to develop theircompetenciesandperformancewhichpositivelyaffect the firms’ grossrevenues. Moreover, we found strong evi-dencethatfemale-ownedbusinesseswere muchsmallerin totalnumberoffulltimeemployeesthanmale-owned busi-nesses.Inother terms,female-ownedfirms,inthissample, weresufferingfromthelackofproductivitybecauseofthelow numberofemployees,andthatmustalsocontributetotheir lowergrossrevenues.DespitethesimilaritybetweenLebanese female-ownedfirms and Lebanese male-owned firms with respecttothebusinesssector,itwasveryclearthatfemale ownerscouldnotdrawasmuchashigh performancefrom thebusinesssectorasmen.

Inconclusion,basedonoursample,thereweresignificant difference between Lebanese female-owned small firms and Lebanese male-owned small firms according to their grossrevenues.Thisdifferencecouldbeexplainedbyfactors relatedtotheowner’slevelofeducation,theowner’sbusiness

experience,thefirm’sageandthefirm’ssize.Havingabetter idea about the relationship between gender and business performanceoftheLebanesesmallfirmsmayshedlighton thewomeninmanagementandhelptheLebanesewomento eliminateallthebarriersandtrytoattainthesamelevelsof successattainedbymen.However,thisstudymayhavesome limitations;we mentionforexample,a limitationinherent inallquestionnaire-basedresearchesisthatthesamplemay failtofullyreflecttheunderlyingpopulation.Thislimitation andotherswillbeleftforthefutureresearcherstoexplore.

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h t t p : / / w w w . e l s e v i e r . c o m / l o c a t e / i s m

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69–82.

117–135.

A

151–168.

136–161.

315–339.

511–532.

18–54.

91–100.

www.enterprisesurveys.org