Melting pot: Linguistic diversity and collaboration

Abstract

Collaboration is essential for scientific progress, but forming cooperative relationships in multilingual environments is not well understood. Using a unique dataset of Chinese inventors, this study examines how linguistic diversity influences inventor collaboration. We find that inventors in multilingual settings are more likely to collaborate, a result robust to various endogeneity tests and robustness checks. Multilingual environments facilitate collaboration by providing access to heterogeneous knowledge and lowering search costs for collaborators. We also find that promoting a common language (Putonghua) helps mitigate communication barriers in linguistically diverse societies. Further analysis reveals that multilingual environments encourage inventors to expand their collaborative networks primarily by establishing new partnerships without significantly displacing existing collaborations. Moreover, inventors in multilingual environments are more likely to produce high-impact patents, enhancing their companies’ innovation performance. Overall, these findings highlight the advantage multilingual environments provide in combining diverse knowledge and emphasize the importance of reducing search and communication frictions.