BETTER SAFE THAN SORRY? RELIGIOUS DIRECTORS AND DIGITAL INNOVATION

Abstract

Digital innovation has become an important focus for corporations wishing to provide novel products and services to their customers. To achieve this, firms must maintain a disruptive organisational posture and promote risk-taking behaviours. In contrast, religious executives are generally seen in the literature as risk-averse and endorse conservative values, such as traditionalism, security, and conformity. In an analysis of large U.S. firms between 2010 and 2015 and using a novel measure for the religiosity of board directors, we find that companies with higher proportions of religious board directors file fewer digital patents and receive fewer citations on their digital patents. Moreover, this study establishes firms’ technological and religious environments as relevant boundary conditions. We contribute to the innovation management literature by introducing board religiosity as an antecedent to digital patenting activities in large firms and by establishing leisure activities as an indicator of the religiosity of executives. In addition, this study offers relevant organisational policy implications with respect to diversity initiatives and board decision-making.