Innovation is pivotal to driving corporate value and a country’s economic growth. It is challenging, however, to motivate innovation as it involves investment in long-term, risky projects with uncertain outcomes. In this study, we examine whether integrated thinking as a management mindset that engenders a long-term perspective fosters corporate innovation. Using a sample of international firms across 52 countries and regions for the period 2008-2020, we find that integrated thinking is positively associated with corporate innovation. We further show that the positive association is more pronounced for multinational corporations (MNCs) where knowledge transfer is facilitated by a more integrated system. In addition, the effect is stronger among firms located in countries and regions where governance and gender equality are less developed, suggesting a substitutional effect of integrated thinking to identify and manage various risks, cultivate a long-term perspective and an ethical, trustworthy environment. Finally, we find a stronger effect of integrated thinking on corporate innovation in countries where integrated reporting is voluntary, indicating that the practice of integrated reporting is more likely to activate an integrated thinking mindset when firms practice it voluntarily. We contribute to the literature documenting that, integrated thinking, as an emerging form of management practice globally, represents an important driver that cultivates corporation innovation. We further contribute to the international business literature by identifying an important channel through which MNCs can foster innovation to a greater extent and by identifying institutional characteristics that significantly influence corporate innovation globally.