IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/respol/v52y2023i8s0048733323000975.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Firm innovation and generalized trust as a regional resource

Author

Listed:
  • Bischoff, Thore Sören
  • Hipp, Ann
  • Runst, Petrik

Abstract

Generalized trust represents an important regional resource for a firm. It increases human capital, fosters frequent interaction and information sharing, and lowers transaction costs. We provide empirical evidence on the impact of generalized trust among people on firm innovation in German regions. Our observation period ranges from 2004 to 2018. A trust measure is generated by using survey data from the German Socio-Economic Panel, firm-level data is obtained from the Mannheim Innovation Panel and regional data is retrieved from the INKAR database. We apply a 3-level multilevel model, with yearly observations nested in firms, which are nested in regions. Our results show that the relationship between trust and firm innovation has an inverted U-shape. An increase in trust is particularly beneficial for firms inside regions with very low levels of trust, and in small and medium-sized enterprises, especially those that operate in the doing-using-interacting mode of innovation (DUI) with an emphasis on employee freedom and creativity.

Suggested Citation

  • Bischoff, Thore Sören & Hipp, Ann & Runst, Petrik, 2023. "Firm innovation and generalized trust as a regional resource," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 52(8).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:respol:v:52:y:2023:i:8:s0048733323000975
    DOI: 10.1016/j.respol.2023.104813
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0048733323000975
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.respol.2023.104813?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Runst, Petrik & Thomä, Jörg, 2024. "Risk-reward trade-offs: Modes of innovation and economic performance of young firms," ifh Working Papers 43/2024, Volkswirtschaftliches Institut für Mittelstand und Handwerk an der Universität Göttingen (ifh).

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Trust; Firm innovation; SMEs; German regions; Doing-using-interacting;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • D02 - Microeconomics - - General - - - Institutions: Design, Formation, Operations, and Impact
    • D83 - Microeconomics - - Information, Knowledge, and Uncertainty - - - Search; Learning; Information and Knowledge; Communication; Belief; Unawareness
    • O12 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Development - - - Microeconomic Analyses of Economic Development
    • O18 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Development - - - Urban, Rural, Regional, and Transportation Analysis; Housing; Infrastructure
    • O31 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Innovation; Research and Development; Technological Change; Intellectual Property Rights - - - Innovation and Invention: Processes and Incentives

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:respol:v:52:y:2023:i:8:s0048733323000975. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/respol .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.