Gender difference and informal competition: evidence from India

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to document how male and female managers respond to competition posed by informal firms. Design/methodology/approach The methodology uses the ordered logistic regression and the data provided by the World Bank’s Enterprise Survey to test the arguments for firms headquartered in India. Findings The findings show that firms managed by females are more likely to consider informal competition as a bigger obstacle for their operations than firms managed by males. It also shows that this relationship is more pronounced in provinces with weak institutional infrastructure. Lastly, the paper shows that firms managed by females respond to competition from the informal sector by undertaking more innovations than firms managed by males. Originality/value This research extends the literature on gender differences in response to competition by documenting how female managers respond to external competition in emerging markets.