Trademark and product innovation: the interactive role of quality certification and firm-level attributes

The study examines how quality certification and firm-level attributes (firm age and size) support firms’ innovative ecosystems that use trademarks in developing countries. The study combines data from the World Bank Enterprise Survey (WBES) and Innovation Follow-up Surveys (IFS) for 11 countries to test the hypotheses. The estimations are performed using an instrumental variable treatment model with direct-2sls for the primary analysis and a Tobit model for the robustness checks. Our findings indicate a positive effect of quality certification and trademark on product innovation. There is a synergistic effect of quality certification and trademark on product innovation. Similarly, firm age and size significantly and positively moderate the link between a trademark and product innovation. Interestingly, in the multi-level estimations, we still find the synergistic effect of quality certification and trademark on product innovation to hold. Our findings provide accommodating arguments for the complementary utilization of trademark and quality certification to support the focal firms’ product innovation. The results also show that firm-level attributes (firm age & size) constitute essential elements for firms to gain from a trademark possession to enhance performance.