IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/ces/ifowps/_195.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

ICT as an Enabler of Innovation. Evidence from German Microdata

Author

Listed:
  • Nadine Fabritz

Abstract

Using data from a survey of German manufacturing firms, this paper empirically tests the hypothesis that investment in ICT enables product innovation at the firm level. The empirical approach employs a value-added model, which controls for time-invariant firm characteristics. We instrument with exogenous impulses that affect firms’ decision to invest in ICT to account for remaining endogeneity that arises due to the fact that firms may decide to innovate and invest in ICT simultaneously. In addition, we employ matching methods to corroborate the results. We find consistent evidence that ICT investment increases firms’ product innovations.

Suggested Citation

  • Nadine Fabritz, 2015. "ICT as an Enabler of Innovation. Evidence from German Microdata," ifo Working Paper Series 195, ifo Institute - Leibniz Institute for Economic Research at the University of Munich.
    • Handle: RePEc:ces:ifowps:_195
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.ifo.de/DocDL/IfoWorkingPaper-195.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Bresnahan, Timothy F. & Trajtenberg, M., 1995. "General purpose technologies 'Engines of growth'?," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 65(1), pages 83-108, January.
    2. Stefan Kipar, 2012. "Determinants of Firm Innovation - Evidence from German Panel Data," ifo Beiträge zur Wirtschaftsforschung, ifo Institute - Leibniz Institute for Economic Research at the University of Munich, number 45.
    3. Lars-Hendrik Roller & Leonard Waverman, 2001. "Telecommunications Infrastructure and Economic Development: A Simultaneous Approach," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 91(4), pages 909-923, September.
    4. Philipp Köllinger, 2005. "Why IT Matters: An Empirical Study of E-Business Usage, Innovation, and Firm Performance," Discussion Papers of DIW Berlin 495, DIW Berlin, German Institute for Economic Research.
    5. Erik Brynjolfsson & Lorin M. Hitt, 2000. "Beyond Computation: Information Technology, Organizational Transformation and Business Performance," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 14(4), pages 23-48, Fall.
    6. Kauder, Björn & Potrafke, Niklas, 2015. "Just hire your spouse! Evidence from a political scandal in Bavaria," European Journal of Political Economy, Elsevier, vol. 38(C), pages 42-54.
    7. Chris Forman & Avi Goldfarb & Shane Greenstein, 2014. "Information Technology and the Distribution of Inventive Activity," NBER Chapters, in: The Changing Frontier: Rethinking Science and Innovation Policy, pages 169-196, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    8. Timothy F. Bresnahan & Erik Brynjolfsson & Lorin M. Hitt, 2002. "Information Technology, Workplace Organization, and the Demand for Skilled Labor: Firm-Level Evidence," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 117(1), pages 339-376.
    9. Stefan Lachenmaier & Ludger Wößmann, 2006. "Does innovation cause exports? Evidence from exogenous innovation impulses and obstacles using German micro data," Oxford Economic Papers, Oxford University Press, vol. 58(2), pages 317-350, April.
    10. Bronwyn H. Hall & Francesca Lotti & Jacques Mairesse, 2013. "Evidence on the impact of R&D and ICT investments on innovation and productivity in Italian firms," Economics of Innovation and New Technology, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 22(3), pages 300-328, April.
    11. van der Wiel, Henry & van Leeuwen, George & Hempell, Thomas, 2004. "ICT, Innovation and Business Performance in Services: Evidence for Germany and the Netherlands," ZEW Discussion Papers 04-06, ZEW - Leibniz Centre for European Economic Research.
    12. Hyslop, Dean R & Imbens, Guido W, 2001. "Bias from Classical and Other Forms of Measurement Error," Journal of Business & Economic Statistics, American Statistical Association, vol. 19(4), pages 475-481, October.
    13. Polder, Michael & Leeuwen, George van & Mohnen, Pierre & Raymond, Wladimir, 2009. "Productivity effects of innovation modes," MPRA Paper 18893, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    14. Sascha O. Becker & Klaus Wohlrabe, 2008. "European Data Watch: Micro Data at the Ifo Institute for Economic Research – The “Ifo Business Survey”, Usage and Access," Schmollers Jahrbuch : Journal of Applied Social Science Studies / Zeitschrift für Wirtschafts- und Sozialwissenschaften, Duncker & Humblot, Berlin, vol. 128(2), pages 307-319.
    15. Vincenzo Spiezia, 2011. "Are ICT Users More Innovative?: an Analysis of ICT-Enabled Innovation in OECD Firms," OECD Journal: Economic Studies, OECD Publishing, vol. 2011(1), pages 1-21.
    16. Hagedoorn, John & Cloodt, Myriam, 2003. "Measuring innovative performance: is there an advantage in using multiple indicators?," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 32(8), pages 1365-1379, September.
    17. Bart van Ark & Mary O'Mahoney & Marcel P. Timmer, 2008. "The Productivity Gap between Europe and the United States: Trends and Causes," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 22(1), pages 25-44, Winter.
    18. Bertschek, Irene & Cerquera, Daniel & Klein, Gordon J., 2011. "More bits - more bucks? Measuring the impact of broadband internet on firm performance," ZEW Discussion Papers 11-032, ZEW - Leibniz Centre for European Economic Research.
    19. James J. Heckman & Hidehiko Ichimura & Petra Todd, 1998. "Matching As An Econometric Evaluation Estimator," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 65(2), pages 261-294.
    20. Horst Penzkofer, 2007. "Innovation Survey," Chapters, in: Georg Goldrian (ed.), Handbook of Survey-Based Business Cycle Analysis, chapter 6, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    21. David Gago & Luis Rubalcaba, 2007. "Innovation and ICT in service firms: towards a multidimensional approach for impact assessment," Journal of Evolutionary Economics, Springer, vol. 17(1), pages 25-44, February.
    22. Czernich, Nina, 2011. "Broadband Infrastructure and Unemployment - Evidence for Germany," Discussion Papers in Economics 12279, University of Munich, Department of Economics.
    23. Alberto Abadie & Guido W. Imbens, 2002. "Simple and Bias-Corrected Matching Estimators for Average Treatment Effects," NBER Technical Working Papers 0283, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    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. Inha Oh & Dongnyok Shim, 2020. "IT Adoption and Sustainable Growth of Firms in Different Industries—Are the Benefits Still Expected?," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(22), pages 1-29, November.

    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. Nadine Fabritz, 2015. "Investment in ICT: Determinants and Economic Implications," ifo Beiträge zur Wirtschaftsforschung, ifo Institute - Leibniz Institute for Economic Research at the University of Munich, number 60.
    2. Aboal D. & Tacsir E., 2015. "Innovation and productivity in services and manufacturing : The role of ICT investment," MERIT Working Papers 2015-012, United Nations University - Maastricht Economic and Social Research Institute on Innovation and Technology (MERIT).
    3. Papaioannou, Sotiris K., 2023. "ICT and economic resilience: Evidence from the COVID-19 pandemic," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 128(C).
    4. Marina Rybalka, 2015. "The innovative input mix. Assessing the importance of R&D and ICT investments for firm performance in manufacturing and services," Discussion Papers 801, Statistics Norway, Research Department.
    5. Adel Ben Khalifa, 2018. "Government Supports and Technology Adoption: Evidence from Tunisia," Journal of Economic Development, Chung-Ang Unviersity, Department of Economics, vol. 43(4), pages 41-70, December.
    6. Diego Aboal & Ezequiel Tacsir, 2018. "Innovation and productivity in services and manufacturing: the role of ICT," Industrial and Corporate Change, Oxford University Press and the Associazione ICC, vol. 27(2), pages 221-241.
    7. Adel Ben Khalifa, 2019. "Direct and Complementary Effects of Investment in Knowledge-Based Economy on Innovation Performance in Tunisian Firms," Journal of the Knowledge Economy, Springer;Portland International Center for Management of Engineering and Technology (PICMET), vol. 10(2), pages 561-589, June.
    8. Alhassan Abdul-Wakeel Karakara & Evans Osabuohien, 2020. "ICT adoption, competition and innovation of informal firms in West Africa: a comparative study of Ghana and Nigeria," Journal of Enterprising Communities: People and Places in the Global Economy, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 14(3), pages 397-414, June.
    9. Sadaf Bashir & Bert Sadowski, 2014. "General Purpose Technologies: A Survey, a Critique and Future Research Directions," Working Papers 14-02, Eindhoven Center for Innovation Studies, revised Feb 2014.
    10. Michael Polder & George van Leeuwen & Pierre Mohnen & Wladimir Raymond, 2010. "Product, Process and Organizational Innovation: Drivers, Complementarity and Productivity Effects," DRUID Working Papers 10-24, DRUID, Copenhagen Business School, Department of Industrial Economics and Strategy/Aalborg University, Department of Business Studies.
    11. Gianfranco E. Atzeni & OA Carboni, 2006. "Regional Disparity in ICT Adoption: an Empirical Evaluation of The Effects of Subsidies in Italy," Working Paper CRENoS 200608, Centre for North South Economic Research, University of Cagliari and Sassari, Sardinia.
    12. Pierre Mohnen & Michael Polder & George van Leeuwen, 2019. "Information and Communications Technology, R&D, and Organizational Innovation: Exploring Complementarities in Investment and Production," NBER Chapters, in: Measuring and Accounting for Innovation in the Twenty-First Century, pages 299-322, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    13. Bertschek, Irene & Polder, Michael & Schulte, Patrick, 2019. "ICT and resilience in times of crisis: evidence from cross-country micro moments data," EconStor Open Access Articles and Book Chapters, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, vol. 28(8), pages 759-774.
    14. Chen, Wen & Niebel, Thomas & Saam, Marianne, 2016. "Are intangibles more productive in ICT-intensive industries? Evidence from EU countries," Telecommunications Policy, Elsevier, vol. 40(5), pages 471-484.
    15. Ferdinand Pavel & Yann Girard & Arno Hantzsche & Anselm Mattes & Julius Pahlke & Katherina Peter, 2014. "Wachstumsfaktor Telekommunikation: zum Beitrag der Telekommunikationsbranche zur wirtschaftlichen Entwicklung in Deutschland; Endbericht," DIW Berlin: Politikberatung kompakt, DIW Berlin, German Institute for Economic Research, volume 78, number pbk78.
    16. Bertschek, Irene & Cerquera, Daniel & Klein, Gordon J., 2011. "More bits - more bucks? Measuring the impact of broadband internet on firm performance," ZEW Discussion Papers 11-032, ZEW - Leibniz Centre for European Economic Research.
    17. Pierre Mohnen & Michael Polder & George van Leeuwen, 2018. "ICT, R&D and Organizational Innovation: Exploring Complementarities in Investment and Production," NBER Working Papers 25044, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    18. Giovanni Dosi & Sébastien Lechevalier & Angelo Secchi, 2010. "Interfirm heterogeneity: nature, sources and consequences for industrial dynamics. An introduction," Université Paris1 Panthéon-Sorbonne (Post-Print and Working Papers) hal-00642680, HAL.
    19. DeStefano, Timothy & Kneller, Richard & Timmis, Jonathan, 2018. "Broadband infrastructure, ICT use and firm performance: Evidence for UK firms," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 155(C), pages 110-139.
    20. Spyros Arvanitis & Euripidis N. Loukis & Vasiliki Diamantopoulou, 2013. "Are ICT, Workplace Organization and Human Capital Relevant for Innovation?," KOF Working papers 13-333, KOF Swiss Economic Institute, ETH Zurich.

    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • O14 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Development - - - Industrialization; Manufacturing and Service Industries; Choice of Technology
    • O31 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Innovation; Research and Development; Technological Change; Intellectual Property Rights - - - Innovation and Invention: Processes and Incentives

    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:ces:ifowps:_195. 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: Klaus Wohlrabe (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/ifooode.html .

    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.