Transformational Leadership and Entrepreneurial Orientation: Does Gender Make Difference in The Tunisian SMEs?

Abstract Given the gender gaps in leadership and entrepreneurship fields, the paper aims to examine the impact of Chief Executive Officers’ transformational leadership on firms’ entrepreneurial orientation by examining the moderating role of the gender in the context of Tunisian SMEs. A total of 630 senior managers in 210 Tunisian SMEs (3 respondents per firm) were surveyed using a questionnaire. Partial Least Squares method and Multi-Group Analysis were piloted to test the research hypotheses. The findings demonstrate that the transformational leadership drives entrepreneurial behaviours and managerial attitude towards risk in the Tunisian SMEs. The results show that male managers are more effective than female leaders in fructifying the firm’s entrepreneurial orientation when using the transformational leadership. The findings are congruent with the assumptions of the social-role theory that asserted that the female behaviour is gender stereotypic. Although Tunisian female entrepreneurs are favoured with the supportive legal status, they seem to be less entrepreneurially oriented.