ABSTRACT

In this paper, we use an economic approach to demonstrate why ‘rational’ businesses are not likely to implement responsible innovation (RI) unless it is economically profitable. The lack of sufficient insights into economic impacts of RI is often induced by information asymmetry. Such asymmetry would hinder consumers who would otherwise be willing to pay higher prices for products or services that are assumed to be associated with RI from actually paying a higher price. We consider the introduction of a certification scheme of RI that would act as a signaling proxy to reduce information asymmetry thereby help increase economic benefits of RI implementation that can further lead to firm profitability. Furthermore, we argue that certification can help facilitate the more effective spread of RI in the business sector by broadening the focus to include not only the ethical engagement of researchers/innovators but also the profit motives of the company.

摘要

在本文中，我们使用经济学方法来论证为什么“理性”企业不太可能实施负责任的创新（RI），除非它能在经济上有利可图。对 RI 的经济影响缺乏足够的了解往往是由于信息不对称造成的。这种不对称会阻碍那些愿意为被认为与 RI 相关的产品或服务支付更高价格的消费者实际支付更高的价格。我们考虑引入 RI 认证计划，作为信号代理来减少信息不对称，从而有助于提高 RI 实施的经济效益，从而进一步提高公司的盈利能力。此外，