Literature review on gender diversity in top management teams of companies and its relationship with firm performance and audit quality

Abstract

This paper aims to review the literature on gender diversity on top management teams and its impact on firm’s performance and audit quality. Over the period of 1997–2023 a total of 125 published articles were identified. Main findings reveal that literature on gender diversity continues to be contradictory, inconsistent and inconclusive regarding its impacts on firm’s performance and audit quality, highlighting the need to intensify research on this field to validate empirically those relationships. The literature review informs researchers on other audiences about the main characteristics of the literature on gender diversity and identifies several research gaps in the area.