IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/taf/ecinnt/v28y2019i7p741-757.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Human capital and firms’ innovation: evidence from emerging economies

Author

Listed:
  • Claudia Capozza
  • Marialuisa Divella

Abstract

We explore the relationship between human capital and firms’ innovation in emerging economies. Most papers consider the formal knowledge developed in R&D laboratories as a major source of innovation. However, a critical portion of knowledge required for innovation resides in human resources and is created outside any formalised R&D activity. We consider that, to improve their technological capabilities, firms should invest in different forms of human capital, namely highly educated workforce and experienced managers, but also in strategic human resource (HR) practices aimed at developing human capital by increasing employees’ firm-specific technical skills and competences. Besides looking at the type of innovation outcomes, we place greater emphasis on the strategies of innovation development, as these should signal an improved firms’ ability, not just to innovate, but to put their own creative effort in the development of innovation. Our results contrast with the traditional view of firms in emerging economies as mainly relying on the external acquisition of innovations, by showing their actual ability to develop new technologies. In this respect, HR practices aimed at fostering employees’ learning and autonomy at work appear more important than the educational attainment of workers, whilst the experience of managers does not seem effective.

Suggested Citation

  • Claudia Capozza & Marialuisa Divella, 2019. "Human capital and firms’ innovation: evidence from emerging economies," Economics of Innovation and New Technology, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 28(7), pages 741-757, October.
    • Handle: RePEc:taf:ecinnt:v:28:y:2019:i:7:p:741-757
    DOI: 10.1080/10438599.2018.1557426
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1080/10438599.2018.1557426
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1080/10438599.2018.1557426?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.

    Citations

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


    Cited by:

    1. Xiaoxue Liu & Fuzhen Cao & Shuangshuang Fan, 2022. "Does Human Capital Matter for China’s Green Growth?—Examination Based on Econometric Model and Machine Learning Methods," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(18), pages 1-27, September.
    2. Adamu Jibir & Musa Abdu, 2021. "Human Capital and Propensity to Protect Intellectual Properties as Innovation Output: the Case of Nigerian Manufacturing and Service Firms," Journal of the Knowledge Economy, Springer;Portland International Center for Management of Engineering and Technology (PICMET), vol. 12(2), pages 595-619, June.
    3. Antonia Mercedes García-Cabrera & María Gracia García-Soto & Julia Nieves, 0. "Knowledge, innovation and NTBF short- and long-term performance," International Entrepreneurship and Management Journal, Springer, vol. 0, pages 1-23.
    4. Leogrande, Angelo & Costantiello, Alberto, 2021. "Human Resources in Europe. Estimation, Clusterization, Machine Learning and Prediction," MPRA Paper 109749, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    5. Nigel Driffield & Jun Du & Jan Godsell & Mark Hart & Katiuscia Lavoratori & Steven Roper & Irina Surdu & Wanrong Zhang, 2021. "Understanding productivity:Organisational Capital perspectives," Working Papers 013, The Productivity Institute.
    6. Jae-Yeoup Kim & Jang-Ho Choi, 2022. "The Impact of Adaptation-Oriented HRM on Exploration: Mediating Effects of Self-Organization," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(23), pages 1-14, November.
    7. Abderazak Bakhouche, 2022. "Assessing the Innovation-finance Nexus for SMEs: Evidence from the Arab Region (MENA)," Journal of the Knowledge Economy, Springer;Portland International Center for Management of Engineering and Technology (PICMET), vol. 13(3), pages 1875-1895, September.
    8. Antonella Biscione & Raul Caruso & Annunziata de Felice, 2021. "Environmental innovation in European transition countries," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 53(5), pages 521-535, January.
    9. Medase, Kehinde, 2019. "The Impact of the Heterogeneity of Employees’ Qualifications on Firm-level Innovation Evidence from Nigerian Firms," VfS Annual Conference 2019 (Leipzig): 30 Years after the Fall of the Berlin Wall - Democracy and Market Economy 203563, Verein für Socialpolitik / German Economic Association.
    10. Zhu, Xuehong & Zuo, Xuguang & Li, Hailing, 2021. "The dual effects of heterogeneous environmental regulation on the technological innovation of Chinese steel enterprises—Based on a high-dimensional fixed effects model," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 188(C).
    11. Antonia Mercedes García-Cabrera & María Gracia García-Soto & Julia Nieves, 2021. "Knowledge, innovation and NTBF short- and long-term performance," International Entrepreneurship and Management Journal, Springer, vol. 17(3), pages 1067-1089, September.
    12. C. Annique Un & Chhomran Ou & Silvy Un Lafayette, 2022. "From the liability to the advantage of refugeeness," Journal of International Business Policy, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 5(4), pages 530-561, December.
    13. AlQershi, Nagwan & Saufi, Roselina Binti Ahmad & Ismail, Noor Azizi & Mohamad, Mohd Rosli Bin & Ramayah, T. & Muhammad, Nik Maheran Nik & Yusoff, Mohd Nor Hakimin Bin, 2023. "The moderating role of market turbulence beyond the Covid-19 pandemic and Russia-Ukraine crisis on the relationship between intellectual capital and business sustainability," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 186(PB).
    14. Onwe, Joshua Chukwuma & Bandyopadhyay, Arunava & Hamid, Ishfaq & Rej, Soumen & Hossain, Md Emran, 2023. "Environment sustainability through energy transition and globalization in G7 countries: What role does environmental tax play?," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 218(C).
    15. Antonella Biscione & Chiara Burlina & Raul Caruso & Annunziata de Felice, 2021. "Innovation in Transition countries: the role of training," Working Papers 1013, European Centre of Peace Science, Integration and Cooperation (CESPIC), Catholic University 'Our Lady of Good Counsel'.
    16. Fernanda Ricotta & Victoria Golikova & Boris Kuznetsov, 2021. "The Role Of CEO Characteristics In Firm Innovative Performance: A Comparative Analysis Of EU Countries And Russia," HSE Working papers WP BRP 251/EC/2021, National Research University Higher School of Economics.
    17. Edeh, Jude N. & Acedo, Francisco J., 2021. "External supports, innovation efforts and productivity: Estimation of a CDM model for small firms in developing countries," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 173(C).

    More about this item

    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:taf:ecinnt:v:28:y:2019:i:7:p:741-757. 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.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using 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: Chris Longhurst (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.tandfonline.com/GEIN20 .

    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.