IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/spr/jknowl/v8y2017i2d10.1007_s13132-016-0406-4.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The Importance of Man Within the System: Defining and Measuring the Human Factor in Innovation, a Review

Author

Listed:
  • George Martinidis

    (Aristotle University of Thessaloniki)

Abstract

Innovation, in the modern sense, is a complex process that depends on a whole system involving a wide range of factors. Yet, it remains an inherently human endeavour, with human capital in its centre. Major benchmarking indices define and measure the human factor in innovation in terms of education, but often do so in a superficial way because of a lack of data or methodological restrictions. In addition, they tend to disregard the other important human dimension of innovation: culture. Innovation culture refers to values, attitudes and behaviours that can be vital for innovation output but are even more difficult to define and measure than education. Despite these difficulties, the need to effectively understand and assess the impact of human factor on innovation, through both culture and education, is extremely important in order to reinforce the innovation capacity of countries or regions and thereby increase competitiveness and economic growth worldwide. The article provides some rough suggestions, based on the review, about creating a new index that might complement existing ones by assessing culture and education in greater depth.

Suggested Citation

  • George Martinidis, 2017. "The Importance of Man Within the System: Defining and Measuring the Human Factor in Innovation, a Review," Journal of the Knowledge Economy, Springer;Portland International Center for Management of Engineering and Technology (PICMET), vol. 8(2), pages 638-652, June.
    • Handle: RePEc:spr:jknowl:v:8:y:2017:i:2:d:10.1007_s13132-016-0406-4
    DOI: 10.1007/s13132-016-0406-4
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s13132-016-0406-4
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1007/s13132-016-0406-4?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Lajos L. Brons, 2006. "Indirect Measurement Of Regional Culture In The Netherlands," Tijdschrift voor Economische en Sociale Geografie, Royal Dutch Geographical Society KNAG, vol. 97(5), pages 547-566, December.
    2. G. M.P. Swann, 2009. "The Economics of Innovation," Books, Edward Elgar Publishing, number 13211.
    3. Sjoerd Beugelsdijk, 2010. "Entrepreneurial Culture, Regional Innovativeness and Economic Growth," Springer Books, in: Andreas Freytag & Roy Thurik (ed.), Entrepreneurship and Culture, chapter 0, pages 129-154, Springer.
    4. Edquist , Charles & Zabala-Iturriagagoitia , Jon Mikel, 2015. "The Innovation Union Scoreboard is Flawed: The case of Sweden – not being the innovation leader of the EU," Papers in Innovation Studies 2015/16, Lund University, CIRCLE - Centre for Innovation Research.
    5. Daniele Archibugi & Andrea Filippetti, 2011. "Is the Economic Crisis Impairing Convergence in Innovation Performance across Europe?," Journal of Common Market Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 49(6), pages 1153-1182, November.
    6. Oliver Dieckmann, 1996. "Cultural determinants of economic growth: Theory and evidence," Journal of Cultural Economics, Springer;The Association for Cultural Economics International, vol. 20(4), pages 297-320, December.
    7. Gary S. Becker, 1962. "Investment in Human Capital: A Theoretical Analysis," NBER Chapters, in: Investment in Human Beings, pages 9-49, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    8. Jaffe, Adam B, 1986. "Technological Opportunity and Spillovers of R&D: Evidence from Firms' Patents, Profits, and Market Value," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 76(5), pages 984-1001, December.
    9. Zvi Griliches, 1984. "R&D, Patents, and Productivity," NBER Books, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc, number gril84-1.
    10. Asteriou, D. & Agiomirgianakis, G. M., 2001. "Human capital and economic growth: Time series evidence from Greece," Journal of Policy Modeling, Elsevier, vol. 23(5), pages 481-489, July.
    11. repec:dau:papers:123456789/5002 is not listed on IDEAS
    12. Dominique Foray & Hugo Hollanders, 2015. "An assessment of the Innovation Union Scoreboard as a tool to analyse national innovation capacities: The case of Switzerland," Research Evaluation, Oxford University Press, vol. 24(2), pages 213-228.
    13. Gertrude E. Schroeder, 1989. "The Implementation and Integration of Innovations in Soviet-Type Economies," Cato Journal, Cato Journal, Cato Institute, vol. 9(1), pages 35-55, Spring/Su.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Dorota Korenkiewicz & Wolfgang Maennig, 2023. "Women on a Corporate Board of Directors and Consumer Satisfaction," Journal of the Knowledge Economy, Springer;Portland International Center for Management of Engineering and Technology (PICMET), vol. 14(4), pages 3904-3928, December.
    2. Edeh, Jude & Prévot, Frédéric, 2024. "Beyond funding: The moderating role of firms' R&D human capital on government support and venture capital for regional innovation in China," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 203(C).
    3. G. Martinidis & N. Komninos & E. Carayannis, 2022. "Taking into Account the Human Factor in Regional Innovation Systems and Policies," Journal of the Knowledge Economy, Springer;Portland International Center for Management of Engineering and Technology (PICMET), vol. 13(2), pages 849-879, June.
    4. Elena Casprini & Tommaso Pucci & Gino Vitale & Lorenzo Zanni, 2020. "From Individual Consumption to Venture Development: the Role of Domain Passion in the Videogame Industry," Journal of the Knowledge Economy, Springer;Portland International Center for Management of Engineering and Technology (PICMET), vol. 11(4), pages 1470-1488, December.
    5. George Martinidis & Arkadiusz Dyjakon & Stanisław Minta & Rafał Ramut, 2022. "Intellectual Capital and Sustainable S3 in the Regions of Central Macedonia and Western Macedonia, Greece," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(16), pages 1-17, August.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. G. Martinidis & N. Komninos & E. Carayannis, 2022. "Taking into Account the Human Factor in Regional Innovation Systems and Policies," Journal of the Knowledge Economy, Springer;Portland International Center for Management of Engineering and Technology (PICMET), vol. 13(2), pages 849-879, June.
    2. Antonelli, Cristiano & Krafft, Jackie & Quatraro, Francesco, 2010. "Recombinant knowledge and growth: The case of ICTs," Structural Change and Economic Dynamics, Elsevier, vol. 21(1), pages 50-69, March.
    3. Antonelli, Cristiano & David, Paul, 2015. "The Generation of Knowledge as an Emergent System Property: An Introduction," Department of Economics and Statistics Cognetti de Martiis. Working Papers 201540, University of Turin.
    4. Janger, Jürgen & Schubert, Torben & Andries, Petra & Rammer, Christian & Hoskens, Machteld, 2017. "The EU 2020 innovation indicator: A step forward in measuring innovation outputs and outcomes?," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 46(1), pages 30-42.
    5. Hall, Bronwyn H. & Mairesse, Jacques & Mohnen, Pierre, 2010. "Measuring the Returns to R&D," Handbook of the Economics of Innovation, in: Bronwyn H. Hall & Nathan Rosenberg (ed.), Handbook of the Economics of Innovation, edition 1, volume 2, chapter 0, pages 1033-1082, Elsevier.
    6. repec:wsr:wpaper:y:2015:i:147 is not listed on IDEAS
    7. Cristiano Antonelli & Alessandra Colombelli, 2017. "The locus of knowledge externalities and the cost of knowledge," Regional Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 51(8), pages 1151-1164, August.
    8. Grazia Cecere & Sascha Rexhäuser & Patrick Schulte, 2019. "From less promising to green? Technological opportunities and their role in (green) ICT innovation," Economics of Innovation and New Technology, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 28(1), pages 45-63, January.
    9. Ascension Barajas & Elena Huergo & Lourdes Moreno, 2012. "Measuring the economic impact of research joint ventures supported by the EU Framework Programme," The Journal of Technology Transfer, Springer, vol. 37(6), pages 917-942, December.
    10. Cristiano Antonelli & Alessandra Colombelli, 2011. "The generation and exploitation of technological change: market value and total factor productivity," The Journal of Technology Transfer, Springer, vol. 36(4), pages 353-382, August.
    11. Ioannis Bournakis & Dimitris Christopoulos & Sushanta Mallick, 2018. "Knowledge Spillovers And Output Per Worker: An Industry‐Level Analysis For Oecd Countries," Economic Inquiry, Western Economic Association International, vol. 56(2), pages 1028-1046, April.
    12. Bettina Becker, 2013. "The Determinants of R&D Investment: A Survey of the Empirical Research," Discussion Paper Series 2013_09, Department of Economics, Loughborough University, revised Sep 2013.
    13. Ioannis Bournakis & Dimitris Christopoulos & Sushanta Mallick, 2015. "Knowledge Spillovers, absorptive capacity and growth: An Industry-level Analysis for OECD Countries," Working Papers 57, Queen Mary, University of London, School of Business and Management, Centre for Globalisation Research.
    14. Daria Ciriaci, 2011. "Intangible resources: the relevance of training for European firms innovative performance," JRC Working Papers on Corporate R&D and Innovation 2011-06, Joint Research Centre.
    15. Richard Harris & John Moffat, 2011. "R&D, Innovation and Exporting," SERC Discussion Papers 0073, Centre for Economic Performance, LSE.
    16. Yu-Shan Chen & Ke-Chiun Chang, 2009. "Using neural network to analyze the influence of the patent performance upon the market value of the US pharmaceutical companies," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 80(3), pages 637-655, September.
    17. Orsatti, Gianluca & Pezzoni, Michele & Quatraro, Francesco, 2017. "Where Do Green Technologies Come From? Inventor Teams’ Recombinant Capabilities and the Creation of New Knowledge," Department of Economics and Statistics Cognetti de Martiis. Working Papers 201711, University of Turin.
    18. Antonelli, Cristiano, 2017. "Digital knowledge generation and the appropriability trade-off," Telecommunications Policy, Elsevier, vol. 41(10), pages 991-1002.
    19. Michael Noel & Mark Schankerman, 2013. "Strategic Patenting and Software Innovation," Journal of Industrial Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 61(3), pages 481-520, September.
    20. Edquist , Charles & Zabala-Iturriagagoitia , Jon Mikel, 2015. "The Innovation Union Scoreboard is flawed: The Case of Sweden – not the innovation leader of the EU – updated version," Papers in Innovation Studies 2015/27, Lund University, CIRCLE - Centre for Innovation Research.
    21. Stavins, Robert & Jaffe, Adam & Newell, Richard, 2000. "Technological Change and the Environment," Working Paper Series rwp00-002, Harvard University, John F. Kennedy School of Government.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:spr:jknowl:v:8:y:2017:i:2:d:10.1007_s13132-016-0406-4. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.springer.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.