IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/spr/joiaen/v8y2019i1d10.1186_s13731-019-0102-2.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Innovation and employment growth: evidence from manufacturing firms in Africa

Author

Listed:
  • Ibrahim Mike Okumu

    (Makerere University)

  • Edward Bbaale

    (Makerere University)

  • Madina Mwagale Guloba

    (Makerere University)

Abstract

This paper estimates the association between innovation and employment growth among manufacturing firms in Africa. The paper uses a cross-sectional World Bank Enterprise Survey dataset in which innovation is categorised as product innovation and process innovation. Results from the pooled ordinary least squares (OLS) estimation are more efficient compared to IV 2SLS. The pooled OLS results indicate that: (1) employment growth is positively associated with both process and product innovation, (2) a weak business environment especially intermittent electricity supply undermines the ability of innovation to induce employment growth and (3) relationship between innovation and employment growth is not conditioned on firm age although it is conditioned on firm size. Such findings suggest that employment growth in Africa could benefit from policies and programs that induce firms to embrace innovation. In addition, a strong business environment is necessary in complementing the potential of innovation to enhance employment growth in Africa.

Suggested Citation

  • Ibrahim Mike Okumu & Edward Bbaale & Madina Mwagale Guloba, 2019. "Innovation and employment growth: evidence from manufacturing firms in Africa," Journal of Innovation and Entrepreneurship, Springer, vol. 8(1), pages 1-27, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:spr:joiaen:v:8:y:2019:i:1:d:10.1186_s13731-019-0102-2
    DOI: 10.1186/s13731-019-0102-2
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://link.springer.com/10.1186/s13731-019-0102-2
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1186/s13731-019-0102-2?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. Lachenmaier, Stefan & Rottmann, Horst, 2011. "Effects of innovation on employment: A dynamic panel analysis," International Journal of Industrial Organization, Elsevier, vol. 29(2), pages 210-220, March.
    2. Reyes Aterido & Mary Hallward-Driemeier & Carmen Pagés, 2011. "Big Constraints to Small Firms' Growth? Business Environment and Employment Growth across Firms," Economic Development and Cultural Change, University of Chicago Press, vol. 59(3), pages 609-647.
    3. Xavier Cirera & Leonard Sabetti, 2019. "The effects of innovation on employment in developing countries: evidence from enterprise surveys," Industrial and Corporate Change, Oxford University Press and the Associazione ICC, vol. 28(1), pages 161-176.
    4. Jose Miguel Benavente & Rodolfo Lauterbach, 2008. "Technological innovation and employment: complements or substitutes?," The European Journal of Development Research, Taylor and Francis Journals, vol. 20(2), pages 318-329.
    5. Rinaldo Evangelista & Antonio Vezzani, 2012. "The impact of technological and organizational innovations on employment in European firms," Industrial and Corporate Change, Oxford University Press and the Associazione ICC, vol. 21(4), pages 871-899, August.
    6. Sumon Kumar Bhaumik & Saul Estrin & Klaus E Meyer, 2007. "Determinants of Employment Growth at MNEs: Evidence from Egypt, India, South Africa and Vietnam," Comparative Economic Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Association for Comparative Economic Studies, vol. 49(1), pages 61-80, March.
    7. Kyoji Fukao & Kenta Ikeuchi & Young Gak Kim & Hyeog Ug Kwon, 2017. "Innovation and Employment Growth in Japan: Analysis Based on Microdata from the Basic Survey of Japanese Business Structure and Activities," The Japanese Economic Review, Springer, vol. 68(2), pages 200-216, June.
    8. Peters, Bettina, 2004. "Employment Effects of Different Innovation Activities: Microeconometric Evidence," ZEW Discussion Papers 04-73, ZEW - Leibniz Centre for European Economic Research.
    9. Aghion, Philippe & Howitt, Peter, 1992. "A Model of Growth through Creative Destruction," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 60(2), pages 323-351, March.
    10. Dachs, Bernhard & Peters, Bettina, 2014. "Innovation, employment growth, and foreign ownership of firms," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 43(1), pages 214-232.
    11. Harrison, Rupert & Jaumandreu, Jordi & Mairesse, Jacques & Peters, Bettina, 2014. "Does innovation stimulate employment? A firm-level analysis using comparable micro-data from four European countries," International Journal of Industrial Organization, Elsevier, vol. 35(C), pages 29-43.
    12. John Haltiwanger & Steven J. Davis, 1999. "On the Driving Forces behind Cyclical Movements in Employment and Job Reallocation," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 89(5), pages 1234-1258, December.
    13. Bogliacino, Francesco & Piva, Mariacristina & Vivarelli, Marco, 2012. "R&D and employment: An application of the LSDVC estimator using European microdata," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 116(1), pages 56-59.
    14. Rachel Griffith & Elena Huergo & Jacques Mairesse & Bettina Peters, 2006. "Innovation and Productivity Across Four European Countries," Oxford Review of Economic Policy, Oxford University Press and Oxford Review of Economic Policy Limited, vol. 22(4), pages 483-498, Winter.
    15. Mariacristina Piva & Marco Vivarelli, 2005. "Innovation and Employment: Evidence from Italian Microdata," Journal of Economics, Springer, vol. 86(1), pages 65-83, October.
    16. Aterido, Reyes & Hallward-Driemeier, Mary, 2010. "The impact of the investment climate on employment growth : does Sub-Saharan Africa mirror other low-income regions ?," Policy Research Working Paper Series 5218, The World Bank.
    17. Steven J. Davis & John Haltiwanger, 1992. "Gross Job Creation, Gross Job Destruction, and Employment Reallocation," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 107(3), pages 819-863.
    18. George Van Leeuwen & Luuk Klomp, 2006. "On the contribution of innovation to multi-factor productivity growth," Economics of Innovation and New Technology, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 15(4-5), pages 367-390.
    19. Nathalie Greenan & Dominique Guellec, 2000. "Technological Innovation and Employment Reallocation," LABOUR, CEIS, vol. 14(4), pages 547-590, December.
    20. Van Reenen, John, 1997. "Employment and Technological Innovation: Evidence from U.K. Manufacturing Firms," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 15(2), pages 255-284, April.
    21. Hans Loof & Almas Heshmati, 2006. "On the relationship between innovation and performance: A sensitivity analysis," Economics of Innovation and New Technology, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 15(4-5), pages 317-344.
    22. Ramiro de Elejalde & David Giuliodori & Rodolfo Stucchi, 2015. "Employment and Innovation: Firm-Level Evidence from Argentina," Emerging Markets Finance and Trade, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 51(1), pages 27-47, January.
    23. Nicola D. Coniglio & Francesco Prota & Adnan Seric, 2015. "Foreign Direct Investment, Employment and Wages in Sub‐Saharan Africa," Journal of International Development, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 27(7), pages 1243-1266, October.
    24. Nickell, Stephen, 1999. "Product markets and labour markets1," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 6(1), pages 1-20, March.
    25. Diego Aboal & Paula Garda & Bibiana Lanzilotta & Marcelo Perera, 2015. "Innovation, Firm Size, Technology Intensity, and Employment Generation: Evidence from the Uruguayan Manufacturing Sector," Emerging Markets Finance and Trade, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 51(1), pages 3-26, January.
    26. Mariacristina Piva & Marco Vivarelli, 2004. "Technological change and employment: some micro evidence from Italy," Applied Economics Letters, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 11(6), pages 373-376.
    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. Blessing Atwine & Ibrahim Mike Okumu & John Bosco Nnyanzi, 2023. "What drives the dynamics of employment growth in firms? Evidence from East Africa," Journal of Innovation and Entrepreneurship, Springer, vol. 12(1), pages 1-25, December.
    2. Piotr F. Borowski, 2021. "Innovation strategy on the example of companies using bamboo," Journal of Innovation and Entrepreneurship, Springer, vol. 10(1), pages 1-17, December.
    3. Rawan Elshaarawy & Riham A. Ezzat, 2023. "Global value chains, financial constraints, and innovation," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 61(1), pages 223-257, June.
    4. Ofori, Pamela E. & Ofori, Isaac K. & Castelnovo, Paolo, 2024. "Effects of Innovation and Economic Freedom on Female Economic Inclusion," EconStor Preprints 298786, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics.
    5. Ofori, Pamela E. & Ofori, Isaac K. & Castelnovo, Paolo, 2024. "Effects of Innovation and Economic Freedom on Female Economic Inclusion," MPRA Paper 121244, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    6. Keraga, Mezid N. & Lööf, Hans & Stephan, Andreas, 2024. "Innovation and employment in sub-Saharan Africa: New evidence from the World Bank Enterprise Survey," Working Paper Series in Economics and Institutions of Innovation 497, Royal Institute of Technology, CESIS - Centre of Excellence for Science and Innovation Studies.
    7. Liard-Muriente, Carlos F., 2023. "Adaptations, Female Labour Participation, and Innovation among SMEs in Zambia during Covid-19 Pandemic," African Journal of Economic Review, African Journal of Economic Review, vol. 11(4), September.
    8. Henry Egbezien Inegbedion & Perejite Roseline Thikan & Joseph Olusegun David & John Oluwasayo Ajani & Fred Ojochide Peter, 2024. "Small and medium enterprise (SME) competitiveness and employment creation: the mediating role of SME growth," Palgrave Communications, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 11(1), pages 1-10, December.
    9. Porath, Daniel & Nabachwa, Sarah & Agasha, Ester & Kijjambu, Nsambu Frederick, 2021. "Innovation and employment in Sub-Saharan Africa," UASM Discussion Paper Series 10/2021, University of Applied Sciences Mainz.
    10. Nogbou Andetchi Aubin Amanzou & Zie Ballo & Sery Guy Flavien Troupa, 2022. "The application of knowledge stylised facts in West Africa Economic and Monetary Union (WAEMU)," Journal of Innovation and Entrepreneurship, Springer, vol. 11(1), pages 1-20, December.
    11. de Guimarães, Julio Cesar Ferro & Severo, Eliana Andréa & Jabbour, Charbel Jose Chiappetta & de Sousa Jabbour, Ana Beatriz Lopes & Rosa, Ariane Ferreira Porto, 2021. "The journey towards sustainable product development: why are some manufacturing companies better than others at product innovation?," Technovation, Elsevier, vol. 103(C).
    12. Charles Karani & Patience Mshenga, 2021. "Steering the sustainability of entrepreneurial start-ups," Journal of Global Entrepreneurship Research, Springer;UNESCO Chair in Entrepreneurship, vol. 11(1), pages 223-239, December.
    13. Dam Duc Le, 2023. "Gthe Impact Of Technological Innovation On Labor Structure: Evidence From Vietnam Smes," Bulletin of Monetary Economics and Banking, Bank Indonesia, vol. 26(2), pages 251-288, May.
    14. Keraga, Mezid N. & Stephan, Andreas, 2023. "Does innovation stimulate employment in Africa? New firm-level evidence from the Worldbank Enterprise Survey," Working Paper Series in Economics and Institutions of Innovation 494, Royal Institute of Technology, CESIS - Centre of Excellence for Science and Innovation Studies.

    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. Flavio Calvino & Maria Enrica Virgillito, 2018. "The Innovation†Employment Nexus: A Critical Survey Of Theory And Empirics," Journal of Economic Surveys, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 32(1), pages 83-117, February.
    2. Heijs, Joost & Arenas Díaz, Guillermo & Vergara Reyes, Delia Margarita, 2019. "Impact of innovation on employment in quantitative terms: review of empirical literature based on microdata," MPRA Paper 95326, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    3. Vincent Van Roy & Daniel Vertesy & Marco Vivarelli, 2015. "The Employment Impact of Innovation: Evidence from European Patenting Companies," DISCE - Quaderni del Dipartimento di Politica Economica ispe0075, Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, Dipartimenti e Istituti di Scienze Economiche (DISCE).
    4. Harrison, Rupert & Jaumandreu, Jordi & Mairesse, Jacques & Peters, Bettina, 2014. "Does innovation stimulate employment? A firm-level analysis using comparable micro-data from four European countries," International Journal of Industrial Organization, Elsevier, vol. 35(C), pages 29-43.
    5. Angela Triguero & David Córcoles & Maria Cuerva, 2014. "Persistence of innovation and firm’s growth: evidence from a panel of SME and large Spanish manufacturing firms," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 43(4), pages 787-804, December.
    6. Van Roy, Vincent & Vertesy, Daniel & Vivarelli, Marco, 2015. "Innovation and Employment in Patenting Firms: Empirical Evidence from Europe," IZA Discussion Papers 9147, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    7. Laura Barbieri & Mariacristina Piva & Marco Vivarelli, 2019. "R&D, embodied technological change, and employment: evidence from Italian microdata," Industrial and Corporate Change, Oxford University Press and the Associazione ICC, vol. 28(1), pages 203-218.
    8. Luigi Aldieri & Concetto Paolo Vinci, 2019. "Firm Size and Sustainable Innovation: A Theoretical and Empirical Analysis," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(10), pages 1-9, May.
    9. Mehmet Ugur & Sefa Awaworyi Churchill & Edna Solomon, 2018. "Technological Innovation And Employment In Derived Labour Demand Models: A Hierarchical Meta†Regression Analysis," Journal of Economic Surveys, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 32(1), pages 50-82, February.
    10. Giovanni Dosi & Xiaodan Yu, 2017. "Technological catching-up, sales dynamics and employment growth: evidence from China's manufacturing firms," LEM Papers Series 2017/27, Laboratory of Economics and Management (LEM), Sant'Anna School of Advanced Studies, Pisa, Italy.
    11. Başak Dalgıç & Burcu Fazlıoğlu & Aytekin Güven, 2023. "Innovation, employment and market structure: firm level evidence from Turkey," Empirical Economics, Springer, vol. 65(3), pages 1385-1407, September.
    12. Daria Ciriaci & Pietro Moncada-Paternò-Castello & Peter Voigt, 2016. "Innovation and job creation: a sustainable relation?," Eurasian Business Review, Springer;Eurasia Business and Economics Society, vol. 6(2), pages 189-213, August.
    13. Van Roy, Vincent & Vértesy, Dániel & Vivarelli, Marco, 2018. "Technology and employment: Mass unemployment or job creation? Empirical evidence from European patenting firms," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 47(9), pages 1762-1776.
    14. Francesco Bogliacino & Mariacristina Piva & Marco Vivarelli, 2014. "Technology and employment: the job creation effect of business R&D," Rivista Internazionale di Scienze Sociali, Vita e Pensiero, Pubblicazioni dell'Universita' Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, vol. 122(3), pages 239-264.
    15. Mariacristina Piva & Marco Vivarelli, 2018. "Innovation, jobs, skills and tasks: a multifaceted relationship," DISCE - Quaderni del Dipartimento di Politica Economica dipe0001, Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, Dipartimenti e Istituti di Scienze Economiche (DISCE).
    16. Kristina Matuzeviciute & Mindaugas Butkus & Akvile Karaliute, 2017. "Do Technological Innovations Affect Unemployment? Some Empirical Evidence from European Countries," Economies, MDPI, vol. 5(4), pages 1-19, December.
    17. Marco Vivarelli, 2013. "Technology, Employment and Skills: An Interpretative Framework," Eurasian Business Review, Springer;Eurasia Business and Economics Society, vol. 3(1), pages 66-89, June.
    18. Priscilla Twumasi Baffour & F. Ebo Turkson & Agyapomaa Gyeke-Dako & Abena D. Oduro & Emmanuel Nii Abbey, 2020. "Innovation and employment in manufacturing and service firms in Ghana," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 54(4), pages 1153-1164, April.
    19. Pellegrino, Gabriele & Piva, Mariacristina & Vivarelli, Marco, 2018. "R&D, Embodied Technological Change and Employment: Evidence from Spain," GLO Discussion Paper Series 214, Global Labor Organization (GLO).
    20. Pellegrino, Gabriele & Piva, Mariacristina & Vivarelli, Marco, 2017. "Are Robots Stealing Our Jobs?," IZA Discussion Papers 10540, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Employment; Product innovation; Process innovation; Africa;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • D2 - Microeconomics - - Production and Organizations
    • J23 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor - - - Labor Demand
    • O31 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Innovation; Research and Development; Technological Change; Intellectual Property Rights - - - Innovation and Invention: Processes and Incentives
    • O33 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Innovation; Research and Development; Technological Change; Intellectual Property Rights - - - Technological Change: Choices and Consequences; Diffusion Processes
    • O55 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economywide Country Studies - - - Africa

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    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:joiaen:v:8:y:2019:i:1:d:10.1186_s13731-019-0102-2. 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.