Overseas experience and corporate innovation: Second-generation successors in family enterprises

We examine the impact of overseas experiences on second-generation successors in family enterprises from a cultural learning perspective. By manually curating data, we find that these successors significantly enhance both the quantity and quality of corporate innovation. Mechanism tests indicate that overseas experiences, through cultural learning, enhance risk-taking, confidence, and reduce seniority culture, fostering innovation. Furthermore, heterogeneity tests show that while these experiences hinder innovation in company locations with strong Confucian culture, they enhance it with high social openness. The results remain robust under a series of robustness and endogeneity tests.