Gender, occupational diversity of R&D teams and patents generation: an application to Spanish firms

Abstract

This paper studies the relationship between gender and occupational diversity in R&D teams and their capacity to generate patents. It is based on an extensive sample of 4,085 firms from the Spanish Community Innovation Survey over the 2004‒2014 period. Applying an exponential Poisson regression that controls for endogeneity through the generalised method of moments, the empirical results show that gender diversity has an ambiguous effect. Although it affects patents negatively, this impact is non‐significant for patents with international protection. Patent generation is however positively affected by the diversity of categories in the R&D teams. Hence, the key question is not gender per se but rather the occupational status of the R&D teams.

WHO invents what? Women’s participation in patenting activity in Spain

“…Here the acquisition of competences including levels of knowledge, skills, and attitudes is essential for women to achieve gender equality. We agree that the complementarity between different occupations is crucial in order to register more patents (Teruel and Segarra-Blasco, 2021). Although patent counts do not provide a direct measure of innovation, they do allow an empirical approximation of the participation of women's inventive activity as well as their integration into innovation networks.…”

“…On the other hand, bearing in mind the relevance of collaboration for innovation, the difference in diversity may capture the relationship between the environment of the R&D team and the differing nature of the inventions being produced (Teruel and Segarra-Blasco, 2021). In Spain, D ıaz-Garc ıa et al (2013) studied gender diversity within R&D teams based on data from the Innovation Survey, and their results support that gender diversity generates certain specific dynamics that contribute to fostering novel solutions that ultimately lead to radical innovation.…”

“…On the other hand, bearing in mind the relevance of collaboration for innovation, the difference in diversity may capture the relationship between the environment of the R&D team and the differing nature of the inventions being produced (Teruel and Segarra-Blasco, 2021). In Spain, Díaz-García et al.…”

The effects of SMEs' R&D team diversity on project‐level performances: evidence from South Korea's R&D subsidy program

“…Classified by the type of workforce analyzed, most preceding studies have focused on diversity in TMTs, boards, and entire firms (Østergaard et al, 2011; Post and Byron, 2015; Hoobler et al, 2018). By comparison, there have been relatively fewer studies on R&D workforces (Dïaz‐Garcïa et al, 2013; Faems and Subramanian, 2013; Xie et al, 2020; Teruel and Segarra‐Blasco, 2021). The effects of diversity in new product development (NPD) team on NPD performance have also been discussed in the previous studies (Salomo et al, 2010; de Visser et al, 2014).…”

“…Classified by the type of workforce analyzed, most preceding studies have focused on diversity in TMTs, boards, and entire firms (Østergaard et al, 2011;Post and Byron, 2015;Hoobler et al, 2018). By comparison, there have been relatively fewer studies on R&D workforces (Dïaz-Garcïa et al, 2013;Faems and Subramanian, 2013;Xie et al, 2020;Teruel and Segarra-Blasco, 2021).…”