Performance Contrast and Its Determinants between Male and Female Headed Firms in Lao MSMEs

Abstract

A number of previous studies have shown that male-headed firms outperform female-headed firms in developed countries. This present study investigates, examines and compares the performance contrast of male and female headed firms in Lao micro, small and medium sized enterprises (MSMEs) through the use of ordered probit models. The sample consists of 840 observations wherein 493 are male -headed firms and 347 are female-headed firms having 1 to 99 employees. We control the business characteristics as well as the entrepreneurs' characteristics. The results confirm previous studies that female entrepreneurs relatively underperform compared to male entrepreneurs. When the whole samples were divided between the male-and-female headed firms, the determinant factors showed contrasting results.