The present study addresses the perceived gap in literature on contribution of managerial
demographics to the innovation performance of manufacturing firms of 12 European countries so
as to highlight the distinctive role of managers in a broader context. The managerial demographics
is conceptualised as the managerial knowledge(education and experience), gender role (number of
female managers), leadership role (top manager's years of experience) and, management ratio. The
effect of managerial demographics is examined on two dimensions of innovation performance: first,
the propensity of firms to perform innovation and, second, the innovation intensity of firms. We
report that the role of female managers in innovation is more significant, than that otherwise
emphasised in innovation literature, as evident in case of countries under study. And, the number
of female managers have a positive impact on the innovation performance of manufacturing firms.
Moreover, the results show that managerial experience also have a non-linear effect on the
innovation performance of manufacturing firms. Finally, the implications of the findings are
discussed in-detail.