Health and creativity: Evidence from corporate innovation

Do, Truc (Peter), Kelvin Jui Keng Tan and Yanhui Wu

Research Policy, 2025, vol. 54, issue 9

Abstract: This study examines how workforce health affects corporate innovation output. At the inventor level, we show that healthier individual inventors, measured using facial recognition-based estimates of Body Mass Index, produce more valuable patents. At the firm level, we show that better workforce health is associated with improved innovation output, particularly in the presence of increased creative destruction and product market competition. Improved workforce health enhances corporate innovation primarily through efficiency gains. This study highlights the importance of workforce health as one of the key drivers of innovation and emphasizes the need for firms to prioritize employee health in their innovation strategies.

Keywords: Health; Productivity; Corporate innovation; Patent; Efficiency (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: G30 J28 K32 O31 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:respol:v:54:y:2025:i:9:s0048733325001398

DOI: 10.1016/j.respol.2025.105310

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