Owner-manager Gender, Financial Performance and Business Growth amongst SMEs from Australia’s Business Longitudinal Survey

The principal objective of this article is to ascertain the extent to which owner-manager gender appears to influence the financial performance and business growth of over 2000 SMEs taken from the Australian federal government’s Business Longitudinal Survey (BLS) for three financial years from 1995-6 to 1997-8. The research findings reported in the article provide substantial empirical evidence that consistent statistically significant differences in financial performance and business growth do not exist between female and male owner-managed concerns once appropriate demographic and other relevant controlling influences are taken into account. The scholarly and policy implications of this result are briefly considered.