Title: Gender diversity and knowledge innovation barriers

Authors: Juan Fernández Sastre

Addresses: Facultad Latinoamericana de Ciencias Sociales (FLACSO-Ecuador), FLACSO Ecuador – La Pradera, E7-174 y Av. Diego de Almagro, Quito, Despacho 703, Ecuador

Abstract: This paper focuses on the influence of R&D teams' gender diversity on firms' perception of revealed knowledge barriers to innovation. It argues that as gender diversity serves to attract skilled workers, to increase technological and market knowledge and to improve external R&D linkages, firms with gender diverse R&D teams are more likely to be aware of the lack of skilled personnel, the lack of technological knowledge, the lack of market knowledge and the lack of R&D partners as factors that can obstruct their innovation activities. The results indicate that gender diverse firms are only more likely to report the lack of market knowledge and the lack of R&D partners as important or very important innovation barriers. This suggests that firms form gender diverse R&D teams in order to improve market knowledge and external relations, but not to attract skilled workers or to increase technological knowledge.

Keywords: gender diversity; R&D teams; research and development; knowledge innovation; innovation barriers; skilled workers; technological knowledge; market knowledge; external links.

DOI: 10.1504/IJESB.2016.073980

International Journal of Entrepreneurship and Small Business, 2016 Vol.27 No.2/3, pp.193 - 212

Received: 11 Feb 2015
Accepted: 09 Mar 2015
Published online: 31 Dec 2015 *

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