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

Author

Teruel Carrizosa, Mercedes

Segarra Blasco, Agustí,

Xarxa de Referència en Economia Aplicada (XREAP)

Publication date

2018

Abstract

Previous results show that gender diversity increases the probability that firms invest in R&D and engage in innovation. This paper explores the relationship between gender diversity of R&D departments and their capacity to patent. Based on the Spanish Community Innovation Survey between 2004 and 2014, we apply a two-step procedure in order to control for endogeneity. Although gender diversity affects OEPM patents negatively, its impact is non-significant for patents with international coverage (EPO, USPTO, or PCT). A relevant result is the fact that the generation of patents is positively affected by the diversity of categories in the R&D labs. Our results highlight that, gender diversity of R&D teams does not play a relevant impact on the capacity of the firm to register patents. However, the diversity according to the professional role in R&D teams exerts a positive influence. In sum, the key question is not the gender diversity per se but the gender diversity jointly with the professional status.

Document Type

Working paper

Language

English

Subjects and keywords

Igualtat de gènere; Recerca industrial; Patents d'invenció; Empreses; Espanya; Gender equality; Industrial research; Patents; Business enterprises; Spain

Publisher

Xarxa de Referència en Economia Aplicada (XREAP)

Related items

Xarxa de Referència en Economia Aplicada (XREAP). Documents de treball de la Xarxa de Referència en Economia Aplicada (XREAP) ;

Rights

open access

Aquest document està subjecte a una llicència d'ús Creative Commons. Es permet la reproducció total o parcial, la distribució, i la comunicació pública de l'obra, sempre que no sigui amb finalitats comercials, i sempre que es reconegui l'autoria de l'obra original. No es permet la creació d'obres derivades.

https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/

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