When women lead companies: the role of women in Italian research spin-off companies.

The literature in behavioral psychology and entrepreneurship has extensively studied gender-based behavioral differences. Several authors have investigated the role of women in entrepreneurship, however few studies have yet been conducted on research spin-off companies. This study aims to investigate the role of women on the board of the spin-off company. In particular, we use secondary data from 166 Italian research spin-offs showing how the presence and percentage of women on the board influences the performance of the research spin-off company in terms of profitability. The research results could provide important insights for the establishment of entrepreneurial teams to all the players that rotate within the innovation ecosystem and in particular to universities, technology transfer offices, academic incubators and mentoring programs.