Board diversity as a resilience determinant for small and medium enterprises: An empirical investigation of the Italian food and beverage industry

This chapter investigates board gender diversity as a possible determinant of SMEs’ resilience in the food and beverage industry, one of the most affected but also one of the most likely to innovate its processes to survive during the pandemic. While previous literature presents evidence of the beneficial effects of board diversity on SMEs’ performance, no prior study has focused on it as a facilitator of resilience-building processes. Considering that previous studies have demonstrated that resilience could depend on managerial attitudes, values, and behaviours, I rely on a composite theoretical framework consisting of a main theory, upper echelons, and two competing ones, social identity and gender structure theory, to test this hypothesis. I investigate a sample of Italian SMEs, regressing a resilience measure using the gender diversity of the board as the main explanatory variable. This chapter provides implications for firms and policymakers regarding board composition during shocks and crises.