Are family female directors catalysts of innovationin family small and medium enterprises?
While family small and medium enter-prises (SMEs) increasingly involve women in their boards,the role of female directors as catalysts of innovation is yetto be fully understood. Drawing on upper echelons theory,we examine directors’ gender in conjunction with familyaffiliation to investigate the influence of family femaledirectors on family SMEs’ innovation. Moreover, by analyz-ing the contingent role of socioemotional wealth prefer-ences, we open the black box of noneconomic aspectsshaping the cognition and behavior of boards. Our analysisof a unique survey-based sample of 287 Belgian familySMEs reveals that family female directors do exert a posi-tive influence on R&D intensity. However, according to themixed gamble logic, this influence is filtered by the positiveand negative moderation of their socioemotional wealthpreferences.
