High on creativity: The impact of social liberalization policies on innovation

Vakili, K and Zhang, L (2018) High on creativity: The impact of social liberalization policies on innovation. Strategic Management Journal, 39 (7). pp. 1860-1886. ISSN 0143-2095 OPEN ACCESS

Abstract

We use a large-sample inductive approach to explore the impact of two social liberalization policies (legalization of same-sex civil unions and medical marijuana) and one anti-liberalization policy (passage of abortion restrictions) on innovation. First, we show that liberalization policies increase state-level patenting while the anti-liberalization policy reduces patenting. Next, we examine three possible mechanisms that could explain the findings. The results suggest that liberalization policies can increase the collaboration diversity of inventors, and hence the rate, novelty, and impact of their innovation output, through promoting more liberal views and more openness to diversity. We also find speculative evidence that social liberalization policies increase entrepreneurial entry through promoting more diverse social interactions. We do not find evidence for liberal policies attracting top inventors from other regions.

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Item Type: Article
Subject Areas: Strategy and Entrepreneurship
Additional Information:

This is the peer reviewed version of the following article: Vakili, K and Zhang, L (2018) High on creativity: the impact of social liberalization policies on innovation. Strategic Management Journal, which has been published in final form at https://doi.org/10.1002/smj.2778. This article may be used for non-commercial purposes in accordance with Wiley Terms and Conditions for Self-Archiving.

Date Deposited: 26 Jan 2018 10:50
Date of first compliant deposit: 15 Jan 2018
Subjects: Product innovation
Diversity in the workplace
Social policies
Creativity
Last Modified: 19 Mar 2024 02:33
URI: https://lbsresearch.london.edu/id/eprint/951
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