R&D team composition and product innovation: gender diversity makes a difference

Literature presents conflicting views on the relationship between gender diversity and performance and we know very little about the impact of R&D team gender diversity on innovation. This study aims to fill this gap by drawing on social cognitive theory. In this paper, we investigate how innovation in R&D teams is fostered by a combination of the specific context of R&D tasks and the participation of mixed gender teams. Drawing on data from 3540 manufacturing firms, our results show that gender diversity has a non-linear impact on product innovation, supporting the argument that diversity is a 'double-edged sword'. This finding indicates that gender diversity fosters innovation only to a certain level. That is, moderate levels of gender diversity are more likely to be related to innovation, whereas lower or higher levels of gender diversity lead to less optimal results.