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<p>This article examines cross-national diffusion in the UNESCO Creative Cities Network (UCCN) by focusing on a gateway outcome: whether and when a country records its first entry into the network. Existing diffusion research generally expects cultural similarity to facilitate adoption. We argue that this expectation does not necessarily hold in an international organization-led network that explicitly values cultural diversity and broad geographical representation. Using a directed dyad-year panel of 176 countries from 2004 to 2019, we estimate discrete-time dyadic event history models of the annual probability that a country records its first UCCN designation. The results show that greater cultural distance from prior member countries is positively associated with successful first entry, while institutional distance remains a significant constraint and domestic readiness continues to matter. These findings suggest that cultural distance can operate as a conditional advantage in diversity-valuing global networks and that diffusion theory should distinguish first entry from later expansion.</p>

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Diversity as value: cultural distance and IO-led diffusion in the UNESCO creative cities network

  • 期刊论文

  • 发表日期：

    2026年8月3日

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  • Xuefei Li,
  • Biyun Zhu

摘要

This article examines cross-national diffusion in the UNESCO Creative Cities Network (UCCN) by focusing on a gateway outcome: whether and when a country records its first entry into the network. Existing diffusion research generally expects cultural similarity to facilitate adoption. We argue that this expectation does not necessarily hold in an international organization-led network that explicitly values cultural diversity and broad geographical representation. Using a directed dyad-year panel of 176 countries from 2004 to 2019, we estimate discrete-time dyadic event history models of the annual probability that a country records its first UCCN designation. The results show that greater cultural distance from prior member countries is positively associated with successful first entry, while institutional distance remains a significant constraint and domestic readiness continues to matter. These findings suggest that cultural distance can operate as a conditional advantage in diversity-valuing global networks and that diffusion theory should distinguish first entry from later expansion.