Explaining disparities in robot applications among nations and regions: A cross-level lens of cultural tightness-looseness

Abstract

In this study, we aim to explain the large disparities among countries and regions on industrial robot application in terms of robot density and robot growth. Based on the premise that people in all cultures have the same potential for innovation, we propose a cross-level lens of cultural tightness-looseness to predict that, in the nascent robotics industry where rules and regulations are underdeveloped (i.e., a loose domain), people in tight cultures (e.g., Singapore, Japan, China) are more likely to innovate than those in loose cultures (e.g., the UK, U.S., the Netherlands) because their creativity is permitted in this or a few other loose domains only. We test this theoretical lens using multi-source longitudinal archival data on robot applications. Several significant findings emerge. First, there is a significant positive relationship between cultural tightness and robot application across 32 countries and territories from 1993 to 2022 (Study 1). Second, such a positive relationship also appears across 50 states in the United States from 1998 to 2022 (Study 2a), and across 31 provinces in China from 2008 to 2022 (Study 2b). Finally, the interaction effect between country- and region-level cultural tightness on robot application is significant (Study 3). These findings provide strong empirical support for our cross-level lens of cultural tightness and shed light on how cultural tightness at different levels interacts to affect incremental innovation (i.e., robot application) in a loose domain (i.e., the robotics industry). Moreover, these findings suggest that loosening tight control on certain domains of a tight culture would remarkably boost creativity and incremental innovation in these domains.