The relevance of personal characteristics and gender diversity for (eco‐)innovation activities at the firm‐level: Results from a linked employer–employee database in Germany

Jens Horbach and Jojo Jacob

Business Strategy and the Environment, 2018, vol. 27, issue 7, 924-934

Abstract: The burgeoning literature on the determinants of eco‐innovation has not yet considered the influence of the personal characteristics of a firm's employees. The paper opens this “black box” of unexplained heterogeneity: it has often been observed that firms with broadly similar characteristics take different decisions concerning eco‐innovations. In fact, latent variables such as the greenness of a firm may be explained by the personal characteristics (gender, family status, geographic origins, education, etc.) of the firm's staff and decision‐makers. The linked employer–employee database of the Institute for Employment Research (IAB) in Germany makes such an analysis possible based on data for 2010–2012. The results of an econometric analysis show that having a large proportion of highly qualified women and a mixed‐gender management board are positively correlated with innovation activities in the environmental sector. The results further confirm that export‐oriented firms are more likely to innovate, firms characterized by staff overaging innovate to a lesser extent and greater competition pressure encourages innovation.

Date: 2018
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