Cultural Diversity and Innovation: An Empirical Study from Dialect. (May 2022)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Hu, Huiting; Yu, Gangning; Xiong, Xueli; Guo, Lijia; Huang, Jiashun
• Is Part Of: Technology in society. Volume 69(2022)
• Publication Date: 2022-05
• Subjects: Cultural diversity -- Innovation -- Dialect; Technology -- Social aspects -- Periodicals; 303.483
• DOI: 10.1016/j.techsoc.2022.101939
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0160-791X

Abstract

Abstract: The relationship between culture and innovation has long been a concern for policymakers and scholars. Based on the perspective of cultural diversity, this study uses Chinese dialects to represent culture, and takes advantage of empirical methods to explore the influence of cultural diversity on city's innovation. Using regression models to analyse the relationship between dialect diversity and innovation, we find that the impact of dialect on city's innovation is significantly negative. To explore the mechanism, we consider the factors of external resources and education investment. We find that external resources could reduce the adverse impact of dialect on innovation. Furthermore, we find that education investment could also diminish the adverse impact of dialect on innovation. This study suggests that government should attach importance to education and increase external resources to alleviate the negative impact exerted by cultural diversity on city's innovation capabilities. Highlights: The impact of cultural diversity on innovation is explored. Results show that dialects negatively influenced city's innovation. External resources and education investment reduce the negative impact.