The impact of executive mobility on corporate innovation: A geographical and cultural perspective

As the importance of managerial human capital in corporate innovation continues to grow, executives’ educational experiences—particularly those related to geographical mobility, cultural contexts, and exposure to innovative thinking—have become increasingly significant. This study, which adopts an integrated geographical and cultural perspective, uses data from Chinese publicly listed companies from 2010 to 2020 to investigate how executive mobility decisions regarding education and employment impact corporate innovation. The findings reveal that: (1) in terms of innovation input, the distance executives relocate from their hometown to their place of study, and from their place of study to their workplace, both negatively influence corporate innovation; (2) in terms of innovation output, while the distance from the hometown to the place of study negatively affects corporate innovation, the distance from the place of study to the workplace positively impacts innovation; (3) moderation analysis reveals that workplace innovation preferences positively moderate the relationship between the distance moved from the place of study to the workplace and corporate innovation. By incorporating educational experiences into the analysis of executive mobility, this study merges geographical and cultural perspectives, offering a clearer understanding of the innovation effects of human capital migration. Additionally, it encourages regions to foster innovation preferences, optimize the innovation ecosystem, and strategically allocate educational resources. This research offers guidance to companies in selecting managerial talent and contributes to the existing literature on upper echelons theory and human capital theory.