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IT Outsourcing—A Source of Innovation? Microeconometric Evidence for Germany

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  • Irene Bertschek
  • Daniel Erdsiek
  • Manuel Trenz

Abstract

Does IT outsourcing really influence firms' process innovativeness? We investigate this question with a distinguished view on manufacturing and service sectors. Previous studies suggest firms sourcing out IT services to external service providers are generally more process innovative. Based on a firm‐level data set comprising 1452 firms from the German manufacturing and services sectors, the econometric analysis confirms a positive and significant relationship between IT outsourcing and process innovation activity on an aggregate level. As proposed by our framework of differences between manufacturing and service firms, a more detailed analysis reveals that this positive relationship only holds for services firms. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Suggested Citation

  • Irene Bertschek & Daniel Erdsiek & Manuel Trenz, 2017. "IT Outsourcing—A Source of Innovation? Microeconometric Evidence for Germany," Managerial and Decision Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 38(7), pages 941-954, October.
    • Handle: RePEc:wly:mgtdec:v:38:y:2017:i:7:p:941-954
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    Cited by:

    1. Alexander Frey & Manuel Trenz & Daniel Veit, 2019. "A service-dominant logic perspective on the roles of technology in service innovation: uncovering four archetypes in the sharing economy," Journal of Business Economics, Springer, vol. 89(8), pages 1149-1189, December.
    2. Moritz Böhmecke-Schwafert & Colin Dörries, 2024. "Measuring Innovation in Mauritius’ ICT Sector Using Unsupervised Machine Learning: A Web Mining and Topic Modeling Approach," Journal of the Knowledge Economy, Springer;Portland International Center for Management of Engineering and Technology (PICMET), vol. 15(3), pages 1-34, September.
    3. Yanmin Guan & Na Wang, 2023. "Automatic modelling of networked innovation outsourcing-oriented talent competency in the era of artificial intelligence," International Journal of System Assurance Engineering and Management, Springer;The Society for Reliability, Engineering Quality and Operations Management (SREQOM),India, and Division of Operation and Maintenance, Lulea University of Technology, Sweden, vol. 14(1), pages 408-414, February.

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    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • D22 - Microeconomics - - Production and Organizations - - - Firm Behavior: Empirical Analysis
    • L23 - Industrial Organization - - Firm Objectives, Organization, and Behavior - - - Organization of Production
    • O31 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Innovation; Research and Development; Technological Change; Intellectual Property Rights - - - Innovation and Invention: Processes and Incentives

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