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Vertical educational diversity and innovation performance

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  • Thomas Bolli
  • Ursula Renold
  • Martin Wörter

Abstract

This paper uses panel data of Swiss firms to analyse the impact of education-level diversity in the workforce on innovation performance, addressing endogeneity by exploiting within-firm variation as well as variation in labour supply across regions. We find that vertical educational diversity increases the extensive margin of R&D and product innovation, particularly new product innovation. However, the relationship with process innovation, R&D intensity, and product innovation intensity is insignificant. These results are in line with the idea that vertical educational diversity enhances the creative moment of the invention phase, while it has no effect on the commercialization phase due to the relevance of coordination and communication costs relative to the gains in creativity.

Suggested Citation

  • Thomas Bolli & Ursula Renold & Martin Wörter, 2018. "Vertical educational diversity and innovation performance," Economics of Innovation and New Technology, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 27(2), pages 107-131, February.
    • Handle: RePEc:taf:ecinnt:v:27:y:2018:i:2:p:107-131
    DOI: 10.1080/10438599.2017.1314075
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    Cited by:

    1. Wadho, Waqar & Chaudhry, Azam, 2024. "Measuring process innovation outputs and understanding their implications for firms and workers: Evidence from Pakistan," Technovation, Elsevier, vol. 136(C).
    2. Rammer, Christian, 2022. "Measuring process innovation output: Results from firm-level panel data," ZEW Discussion Papers 22-002, ZEW - Leibniz Centre for European Economic Research.
    3. Backes-Gellner Uschi & Lehnert Patrick, 2023. "Berufliche Bildung als Innovationstreiber: Ein lange vernachlässigtes Forschungsfeld," Perspektiven der Wirtschaftspolitik, De Gruyter, vol. 24(1), pages 85-97, April.
    4. Thomas Bolli & Filippo Pusterla, 2023. "Complementarities among types of education in affecting firms' productivity," LABOUR, CEIS, vol. 37(4), pages 554-591, December.
    5. Irina TARABAN & Alina Nicoleta BONCILICA & Maria Andreea TILIBASA & Ovidiu DRANGA & Dorin Felician MARCHIS, 2023. "A Bibliometric Analysis Of The Relationship Between Workforce Diversity And Innovation," Proceedings of the INTERNATIONAL MANAGEMENT CONFERENCE, Faculty of Management, Academy of Economic Studies, Bucharest, Romania, vol. 17(1), pages 766-783, November.
    6. Yi Yang & Zishao Huang & Zhenyuan Weng & Jianing Zhang, 2025. "TMT Family Members’ Education and Firm Innovation: Evidence from Chinese Family Firms," JRFM, MDPI, vol. 18(9), pages 1-30, August.
    7. Rammer, Christian, 2023. "Measuring process innovation output in firms: Cost reduction versus quality improvement," Technovation, Elsevier, vol. 124(C).
    8. Matthies, Eike & Thomä, Jörg, 2025. "Task allocation and innovation: Revisiting the role of vocational education and training in manufacturing firms," ifh Working Papers 47/2025, Volkswirtschaftliches Institut für Mittelstand und Handwerk an der Universität Göttingen (ifh), revised 2025.
    9. Wei Wang & Kimberly A. Eddleston & Francesco Chirico & Stephen X. Zhang & Qiaozhuan Liang & Wei Deng, 2023. "Family Diversity and Business Start-Up: Do Family Meals Feed the Fire of Entrepreneurship?," Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, , vol. 47(4), pages 1265-1297, July.
    10. Christian Rupietta & Uschi Backes-Gellner, 2019. "How firms’ participation in apprenticeship training fosters knowledge diffusion and innovation," Journal of Business Economics, Springer, vol. 89(5), pages 569-597, July.

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