Title: Innovation in KIBS firms: the effects of innovation activities, employees' level of education, and the sources in the supply chain

Authors: Jean Pierre Seclen-Luna; Pablo J. Moya-Fernández; Javier Fernando Del Carpio Gallegos; Elizabeth Aylas Florez

Addresses: Department of Management, Pontifical Catholic University of Peru, University Avenue 1801, San Miguel, Lima, Peru ' Department of Quantitative Methods for Economics and Business, Universidad of Granada, Granada, Spain ' College of Engineering, ESAN University, Lima, Peru ' Department of Management, Pontifical Catholic University of Peru, University Avenue 1801, San Miguel, Lima, Peru

Abstract: There has been a growing interest in the study of knowledge-intensive business services (KIBS) due to the important role that they play in the business processes of their clients. Even though extant literature assumes that KIBS firms are innovators, there is evidence that not all KIBS are equally innovative. Our exploratory research uses data gathered from the National Survey of Innovation in the manufacturing and KIBS industries and uses the LOGIT model on a sample of 311 Peruvian KIBS firms. The effects of innovation activities, employee level of education and the sources in the supply chain on developing innovations are determined. Findings indicate that not all innovation activities positively affect innovation. We found that most of these activities are related to technological innovation, rather than non-technological innovation, and the hiring of graduated personnel favours the development of organisational innovation. However, the interplay with customers, suppliers and competitors gives no benefit concerning the development of innovation.

Keywords: technological innovation; non-technological innovation; innovation activities; knowledge-intensive business services; KIBS; employees' level of education.

DOI: 10.1504/IJBE.2024.139727

International Journal of Business Environment, 2024 Vol.15 No.3/4, pp.315 - 337

Received: 08 Feb 2023
Accepted: 17 Jul 2023
Published online: 05 Jul 2024 *

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