Publication Type

Journal Article

Version

publishedVersion

Publication Date

4-2019

Abstract

We conduct a 3-y study involving 11,662 respondents to map cultural tightness—the degree to which a society is characterized by rules and norms and the extent to which people are punished or sanctioned when they deviate from these rules and norms—across 31 provinces in China. Consistent with prior research, we find that culturally tight provinces are associated with increased governmental control, constraints in daily life, religious practices, and exposure to threats. Departing from previous findings that tighter states are more rural, conservative, less creative, and less happy, cultural tightness in China is associated with urbanization, economic growth, better health, greater tolerance toward the LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender) community, and gender equality. Further, analyzing about 3.85 million granted patents in China (1990–2013), we find that provinces with tighter cultures have lower rates of substantive/radical innovations yet higher rates of incremental innovations; individuals from culturally tighter provinces reported higher levels of experienced happiness.

Keywords

Culture, innovation, China, creativity, norms

Discipline

Asian Studies | Human Resources Management | Organizational Behavior and Theory | Technology and Innovation

Research Areas

Organisational Behaviour and Human Resources

Publication

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences

Volume

116

Issue

14

First Page

6720

Last Page

6725

ISSN

0027-8424

Identifier

10.1073/pnas.1815723116

Publisher

National Academy of Sciences

Copyright Owner and License

Authors

Additional URL

https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1815723116

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