Abstract

This study investigates the effect of human diversity on innovation. For this purpose, human diversity is divided into educational level diversity and educational background diversity, while innovation is divided into exploratory and exploitative innovation. Educational level diversity and educational background diversity are defined according to the entropy index, and their impact on exploratory and exploitative innovation is examined through a panel analysis using Human Capital Corporate Panel (HCCP) data from 2013 to 2017. The results confirm that educational level diversity has a significant negative effect on exploratory innovation. This may be because in Korean society, an individual’s educational level is likely to reflect their status hierarchy. In turn, this status hierarchy silences members with a low educational level, limiting the utilization of their various perspectives and knowledge. Furthermore, educational background diversity was found to have a positive effect on exploitative innovation. In other words, as individual organizational members have their own knowledge and skills depending on their educational background, this may result in the development of various perspectives and knowledge which, in turn, facilitates exploitative innovation. Overall, a difference was observed between the effects of educational level diversity and educational background diversity on exploratory and exploitative innovation. Finally, future studies should utilize panel data that include the latest data to analyze the mechanisms and situational factors that explain the impact of human diversity on exploratory and exploitative innovation.