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Psychological Openness and the Emergence of Breakthrough vs. Incremental Innovations: A Regional Perspective

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  • Lars Mewes
  • Tobias Ebert
  • Martin Obschonka
  • P. Jason Rentfrow
  • Jeff Potter
  • Samuel D. Gosling

Abstract

Breakthrough innovations are expected to have a bigger impact on local economies than incremental innovations do. Yet past research has largely neglected the regional drivers of breakthrough innovations. Building on theories that highlight the role of personality psychology and human agency in shaping regional innovation cultures, we focus on psychological openness as a potential explanation for why some regions produce more breakthrough innovations than others do. We use a large data set of psychological personality profiles (∼1.26M individuals) to estimate the openness of people in metropolitan statistical areas (MSAs) in the US. Our results reveal that psychological openness is strongly associated with the emergence of breakthrough innovations but not with the emergence of incremental innovations. The findings remained robust after controlling for an extensive set of predictors of regional innovation such as star inventors, star scientists, or knowledge diversity. The results held even when we used tolerance as an alternative indicator of openness. Taken together, our results provide robust evidence that openness is relevant for regional innovation performance, serving as an important predictor for breakthrough innovations but not for incremental innovations.

Suggested Citation

  • Lars Mewes & Tobias Ebert & Martin Obschonka & P. Jason Rentfrow & Jeff Potter & Samuel D. Gosling, 2022. "Psychological Openness and the Emergence of Breakthrough vs. Incremental Innovations: A Regional Perspective," Economic Geography, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 98(4), pages 379-410, August.
    • Handle: RePEc:taf:recgxx:v:98:y:2022:i:4:p:379-410
    DOI: 10.1080/00130095.2022.2049228
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    Cited by:

    1. Robert Huggins & Piers Thompson, 2024. "Understanding the contemporary history of urban economic change: The case of entrepreneurial innovation," Growth and Change, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 55(1), March.
    2. Reher, Leonie & Runst, Petrik & Thomä, Jörg, 2022. "Personality and regional innovativeness: An empirical analysis of German patent data," ifh Working Papers 39/2022, Volkswirtschaftliches Institut für Mittelstand und Handwerk an der Universität Göttingen (ifh).
    3. Obschonka, Martin & Tavassoli, Sam & Rentfrow, P. Jason & Potter, Jeff & Gosling, Samuel D., 2023. "Innovation and inter-city knowledge spillovers: Social, geographical, and technological connectedness and psychological openness," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 52(8).
    4. Reher, Leonie & Runst, Petrik & Thomä, Jörg, 2024. "Personality and regional innovativeness: An empirical analysis of German patent data," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 53(6).
    5. Qingyi Chen & Yuting Liu & Zuolin Yao, 2024. "Spatial–Temporal Pattern Evolution and Differentiation Mechanism of Urban Dual Innovation: A Case Study of China’s Three Major Urban Agglomerations," Land, MDPI, vol. 13(9), pages 1-22, August.

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