Barriers, Challenges, and Benefits: Gender Diversity in Technology-Based New Venture Team Innovation

Abstract

This paper introduces the early phase of research designed to unpack the phenomenon of gender diversity in
technology new venture teams including its barriers, potential benefits, and challenges. We present some preliminary case
study findings from 13 interviews with team members from three technology new ventures in Indonesia. This research
setting allows us to investigate a unique cultural context in a developing country. The present study addresses a significant
research gap by elucidating various viewpoints of new ventures towards gender diversity within the same institutional
context, thereby enabling a nuanced understanding of their ability to leverage the potential benefits of gender-diverse teams
for innovation. Specifically, our findings reveal that new ventures have different abilities to navigate the barriers and
challenges associated with gender diversity. This study identified three distinct barriers, namely the acquisition of genderbalanced
applicants, the mitigation of gender-specific bias, and the effective management of dynamics team composition.
In addition to the potential benefits of having a gender-diverse team, such as enhanced collaboration, balanced thinking,
and inter-group competition, our research has identified three significant challenges. These include the need to overcome
cultural and social norms that hinder gender diversity, effectively managing diversity management practices, and improving
employee engagement and a sense of belonging. The initial results of our study offer some practical and theoretical
implications for enhancing the potential of new ventures to leverage the advantages of gender-diverse teams to promote
innovation. These we aim to study further as the doctoral investigation advances further through more extensive case study
analysis.