IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/wly/sustdv/v33y2025i6p9226-9244.html

National Innovation Systems and Corporate Intangible Investment as a Driver of Sustainable Development: A Cross‐Country Study

Author

Listed:
  • Hung Quang Bui
  • Khanh Hoang
  • Huy Viet Hoang
  • Anh Ngoc Quang Huynh
  • Giang Thi Minh Vu
  • Thao Duong Phuong Pham

Abstract

We investigate the impact of national innovation systems (NIS) on corporate intangible investment, which is a crucial factor in economic growth and sustainable development. Using a comprehensive international sample of 25,974 firms from 77 countries during 2011–2019, we find a positive impact of NIS on corporate intangible investment and corporate intangible value growth. Our results suggest that governments can stimulate growth in intangible assets at the firm level by fostering innovation at the national level. The impact persists in different components of NIS, including human capital and research, infrastructure, technology and creative outputs, and business and market sophistication. Further analysis suggests that the impact is more pronounced in small firms, firms with high growth, and firms depending more on intangibles. At the macro level, the effect of NIS seems to be largely stronger in developed countries, weakened under income inequality while being supported by a younger workforce and strong rule of law. Our findings have practical implications for policymakers regarding how national innovation forms corporate intangible asset growth and contributes to sustainable economic development.

Suggested Citation

  • Hung Quang Bui & Khanh Hoang & Huy Viet Hoang & Anh Ngoc Quang Huynh & Giang Thi Minh Vu & Thao Duong Phuong Pham, 2025. "National Innovation Systems and Corporate Intangible Investment as a Driver of Sustainable Development: A Cross‐Country Study," Sustainable Development, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 33(6), pages 9226-9244, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:wly:sustdv:v:33:y:2025:i:6:p:9226-9244
    DOI: 10.1002/sd.70154
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://doi.org/10.1002/sd.70154
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1002/sd.70154?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
    ---><---

    More about this item

    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:wly:sustdv:v:33:y:2025:i:6:p:9226-9244. 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: Wiley Content Delivery (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/journal/10.1002/(ISSN)1099-1719 .

    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.