Does Gender Matter in the Export Performance of International New Ventures? Mediation Effects of Firm specific and Country specific Advantages
Based on a sample of 4240 Korean firms, this study explores the relationship between owner gender and export performance of international new ventures (INVs) by investigating four mediating mechanisms: venture capital financing, upstream firm specific advantages, downstream firm specific advantages, and country specific advantages. Our empirical findings are threefold: (1) female owned ventures are disadvantageous in obtaining access to venture capital, but venture capital financing is not positively associated with their export performance; (2) male owned ventures achieve better export performance through superior innovation and marketing capabilities (i.e. mediation effects) than their female owned counterparts; (3) while gender is not associated with the home region destination of exports, the country destination of exports within the Asia Pacific region positively affects INVs' export performance.