Women leadership influence on corporate performance in the Zimbabwe clothing retail sector: A case of Edgars stores (Pvt) Ltd Zimbabwe

Abstract

The study examined the influence of women leadership on corporate performance by considering how women leadership has potential in influencing market share, service quality, customer satisfaction and sales volume. Women leadership is a concept that has become of recent interest as it has also reached a considerable amount of consideration in the media also. Some may ponder however, why it is essential to have more female leaders. There are numerous reasons why female leadership ought to be promoted, and numerous investigations have been directed to demonstrate the advantages of female leadership to organisations through organizational diversity. A research gap was to decipher on women leadership influence on corporate performance in the Zimbabwean clothing retail sector under unstable macroeconomic conditions. Four research hypothesis are postulated and empirically tested using quantitative survey approach with a sample of 57 employees from Edgars. The sample yielded a 95% response rate. The results indicated that women leadership does positively influence market share, service quality, customer satisfaction and sales volume of the organization. The study recommended that the management and human resources policies at the organization should continue to foster gender diversity in their leadership positions. Moreover the study recommended that further research should be carried out in different industries and other areas in the country and that subsequent research should envisage replicating this study in other developing countries in Africa to allow for comparison of results.