Donata Mussolino

Determinants of entrepreneurial orientation in family-owned healthcare organizations

Abstract Entrepreneurship studies are highly necessary in the healthcare field, as nowadays, managers perform entrepreneurial activities to generate innovative strategies in order to obtain a competitive advantage in the turbulent healthcare environment. Despite this industry faces complexity and growing competition, healthcare providers have been rarely analysed from the entrepreneurial point of view. As very little is known about this topic, we use a multiple-case studies approach to inductively develop propositions. This study applies the construct of entrepreneurial orientation (EO) in the context of private healthcare organizations. This research serves as an initial attempt to account for the determinants of some dimensions of EO in healthcare organizations, in order to comprehend how innovativeness, risk-taking, and proactiveness performs. We also consider the effect of family involvement and of the professionalization phenomenon in second – or subsequent – generation firms on the EO of family-owned healthcare organizations.

Women on board: evidence from a masculine industry

Purpose – This paper aims to provide insights on the gender-performance relationship, this paper studies the impact of board gender diversity on firm performance, by taking into account the “critical mass” of women directors and their educational level. Design/methodology/approach – The hypotheses are tested on a unique dataset of 211 European Union publicly listed companies in 2012 belonging to the construction industry from 28 different countries through a set of ordinary least squares regressions. Findings – The evidence shows that the “critical mass” rather than the simple presence of women has an incremental benefit on firm performance. In addition, results show that the educational level of women directors negatively affects firm performance, as it might impact the dynamics within the boardroom. Research limitations/implications – The quantitative nature of the study does not allow drawing strong inferences on behavioral processes and dynamics in and around the boardroom. Nevertheless, this study wi...

Gender diversity and father–daughter relationships: understanding the role of paternalistic leadership in family firm succession

This article examines the impact of paternalistic leadership on the gender diversity of family firm succession. To date, few studies have focused on the role of gender in the succession process, or on analysing the transfer of power to the male/female successor. The aim of this article is therefore to understand the impact of the predecessors paternalistic leadership style on the success of the succession process and how gender-related issues affect this. In particular, we focus on the father-daughter relationship. Using the concept of paternalism, we formulate three main propositions and propose a conceptual model that considers different types of paternalistic leadership styles as factors that increase or decrease the likelihood of success of the succession, according to the gender of the successor. Finally, we propose some future paths for the academic debate.