Abstract
Based on gender and strategic management research, this study introduces women’s participation in top management team as the main variable to examine its impact on strategic change and firm performance in China. The impact of female top managers in China has been drawing attention increasingly, as the institutional and organizational factors facilitate the positive outcome in one way, but constraint women’s access to top positions in another due to
gender-role stereotype and traditional Chinese cultural expectations. The research question of this study is “Do women’s participation in top management positively affect firm strategic change and performance in China?” Specifically, I first test the relationship between women’s participation in top management team and strategic change as well as performance growth, and then I test the moderator effect of female top managers. The scope of the study is to discuss the outcome of firm strategic change in China, as well as the moderating effect of women’s participation in top management in the context of China. Research on the impact of females in top management has been a controversial topic in past decades, but it is still worthwhile to contribute in this field by finding connections between gender diversity and firm outcomes.