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Female leadership in contemporary Chinese family firms

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Abstract

Drawing on a case study of a three-generation family business, this paper explores the antecedents and consequences of female leadership in contemporary Chinese family business. Our findings suggest that institutional change in contemporary China affects the role of female family members in the family system, which eventually gave rise to female leadership in China’s family businesses. We also propose that in comparison to male leadership, female leadership in Chinese family business is more concerned with balancing work-family conflict; more dependent upon the family’s endowment of resources; and more likely to favor a participative (rather than authoritative) decision-making style.

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Notes

  1. Female family leadership and female leadership in family business are used interchangeably in this article.

  2. We use the term leader to broadly refer to the primary decision-maker in an economic organization. It includes but is not limited to business owner, manager and entrepreneur.

  3. Formal private businesses started to emerge following the 1978 “Reform and Open-up.” However, before this time, private business still existed in the informal (grey) economy, filling the void left by the state-owned enterprises. To some extent, the Reform and Open-up or the beginning of economic transformation was partially driven by the prevalence of informal business activities in China. The business is considered a three-generation family firm because we consider the business as it existed in the informal economy as an inherent part of the company’s history. Although the business was formally incorporated after 1978, the foundation of the business was built before 1978.

  4. Gender equality has a great impact on NL family that they believe capable women can be just as effective leaders as their male peers.

  5. Working point was an evaluation system used by the Communist Party from 1950s–1980s.

  6. The illiteracy rate of young Chinese women in 2013 is 6.7%, reduced from 23.7% compared with 1995. http://www.scio.gov.cn/zxbd/wz/Document/1450166/1450166.htm

  7. In 1960s, female with a high-school certificate were regarded as a highly educated person.

  8. The percentage of female members in CPPCC will be no less than 22%. This information comes from the website of http://news.xinhuanet.com/misc/2007-03/08/content_5820140.htm

  9. Families could have two children if the parents are rural household registration.

  10. http://www.stats.gov.cn/

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Acknowledgements

We would like to thank coeditor Rico Lam, Michael Carney, and two anonymous reviewers for their constructive suggestions. We are also indebted to Jess Chua and Hao Wang for their valuable comments on earlier versions of this article.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Business, Ningbo University, Ningbo, Zhejiang, 315211, China

    Shihui Chen

  2. Department of Business and Information Technology, Missouri University of Science and Technology, Rolla, MO, 65409, USA

    Hanqing Chevy Fang

  3. Hunter Centre for Entrepreneurship, Strathclyde Business School, Sir William Duncan Building, Glasgow, G4 0QU, UK

    Niall G. MacKenzie & Sara Carter

  4. School of Management, Zhejiang University, Zhejiang, Hangzhou, 310058, China

    Ling Chen

  5. School of Economic & Management, Fuzhou University, Fuzhou, Fujian, 350116, China

    Bingde Wu

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  1. Shihui Chen
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  2. Hanqing Chevy Fang
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  4. Sara Carter
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Correspondence to Shihui Chen.

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Shihui Chen (Corresponding Author) and Hanqing “Chevy” Fang are equal contributors.

This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Nos. 71272172, 71302059), the K. C. Wong Magna Fund in Ningbo University, the Provincial Natural Science Foundation of Fujian (No. 2016 J01335), and the Provincial Social Sciences Planning of Fujian (No. FJ2015C113)

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Chen, S., Fang, H.C., MacKenzie, N.G. et al. Female leadership in contemporary Chinese family firms. Asia Pac J Manag 35, 181–211 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10490-017-9515-2

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