Contemporary Strategic Management Research on CEO and Gender
Prof. Yan ZHANG
Fayez Sarofim Vanguard Professor of Management
Rice University
Date: 5 November 2025 (Wednesday)
Time: 16:00-17:00
Venue: E22-G008
Host: Prof. Jennifer LAI, Associate Professor in Management
Abstract
We examine how gender of later-generation family CEOs may affect competitive dynamics of family firms. We propose that due to gender- and generation-based stereotypes within family firms, later-generation female family CEOs have lower legitimacy than their male counterparts, and thus they tend to pursue more aggressive and complex strategies to prove their worthiness for the CEO position. We further argue that family directors across different genders and generations influence such differences: whereas older-generation male and female family directors, and same-generation male family directors reduce the differences, same-generation female family directors amplify such differences. Using data on public-listed family firms in South Korea, we find results supporting these predictions. Our study contributes to the literatures on female leadership, family firm governance, and competitive dynamics by demonstrating how female executives may use competitive strategies to counteract stereotypes that they face within family firms.
Speaker
Dr. Yan “Anthea” Zhang is a professor and the Fayez Sarofim Vanguard Chair of Strategic Management at the Jones Graduate School of Business, Rice University. She was the President of Strategic Management Society (SMS) (https://strategicmanagement.net/) during January 2023-December 2024. Prior to being elected President of SMS in 2021, Dr. Zhang had served on the board of SMS for six years. She has also served on the board of directors of the International Corporate Governance Society (ICGS) for three years. She is an elected Fellow of Strategic Management Society (SMS) and Academy of International Business (AIB). She has served as an associate editor of Academy of Management Journal and Strategic Management Journal, and a consulting editor of Management and Organization Review. She is an area editor of Journal of International Business Studies.
Dr. Zhang joined Rice University in July 2001. Her research focuses on CEO succession and corporate governance of public-listed companies and family firms, foreign direct investments, technological entrepreneurship, and energy transition. She has published extensively on these topics in leading academic journals, such as Academy of Management Journal, Strategic Management Journal, Journal of Marketing Research, Journal of Marketing, and Journal of International Business Studies, among others. Her research has been cited in top business media outlets such as Harvard Business Review, Economist, Business Week, New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, USA Today, and Financial Times, among others. She has published a co-authored book on managerial succession in family-owned businesses in China. She was the recipient of Strategic Management Society Emerging Scholar Award in 2010. Dr. Zhang received her Ph.D. degree in business administration from the University of Southern California (USC), Master of Philosophy degree in international business from City University of Hong Kong, and BA and MA degrees in economics from Nanjing University, China. She received the Distinguished Alumni Award from College of Business, City University of Hong Kong in 2019.
All are welcome!
