The relationship between innovation and subjective wellbeing

Innovation should improve people's lives. The links made between innovation and subjective wellbeing (SWB) have, however, rarely been made. We use a representative survey of the British population and new primary data to explore the relationship between innovation and SWB. We show that creativity and SWB are correlated. This applies to questions related to self-reported creativity and for working in creative environments. More research is needed to determine the relative effects of each direction of causality in the relationship between innovation and SWB in the workplace and in life generally.

► Innovation is related to subjective wellbeing (SWB). ► We show this using a representative survey of the British population and new primary data. ► We use both self-reported questions related to self-reported creativity and for working in creative environments. We also use different measures of SWB, namely experienced-based and evaluation-based SWB. ► More research is needed to determine the direction of causality in the relationship between innovation and SWB.