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Innovation and Skills Requirements in Post-transition Economies

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Business Development and Economic Governance in Southeastern Europe

Part of the book series: Springer Proceedings in Business and Economics ((SPBE))

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Abstract

Innovators are more likely to ensure strong foundations for economic growth and contribute positively to employment. Yet, one of the important innovation inputs is the continuous upgrading of the innovating enterprise human capital. Innovative firms are more likely to report having problems finding adequate skills on the job market. Previous studies have established that innovative firms require a workforce with modern, higher-order skills, that are frequently unavailable on the local labour market. This leads to more specific training requirements for the innovating firms. Based on the most recent The World Bank Enterprise Survey dataset, the paper explores different aspects of inadequate human capital on innovation propensity in post-transition societies. Specifically, the impact of the inadequately educated workers, provision of on-the-job training and the share of high-skill workers on firm innovation propensity are analysed. In addition to firm characteristics, the paper explores aspects of the managers’ human capital, such as years of experience and gender of the top manager. Analysis confirms differences between innovating and non-innovating firms and differences between countries belonging to the Central and South-European region compared to the Commonwealth of Independent States region.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    The dataset does not enable detection of other types of innovation (process, marketing and organizational innovation) that would be in accordance with the Oslo Manual. The questionnaire does include questions related to innovation input (R&D). However, innovation input does not necessarily lead to innovation output, and it is highly expected that firms with R&D as innovation input would require another type of human capital, also an input in the innovation process. The information on R&D cannot be confirmed by alternative sources and the responses to the new product or service question were considered more relevant for the analysis in the present paper.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. The Institute of Economics, Zagreb, Trg J. F. Kennedy 7, 10000, Zagreb, Croatia

    Valerija Botrić

Authors
  1. Valerija Botrić
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Correspondence to Valerija Botrić .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Neapolis University Pafos, Paphos, Cyprus

    Pantelis Sklias

  2. Department of Economics, International Hellenic University, Serres, Greece

    Persefoni Polychronidou

  3. Department of Accounting and Finance, International Hellenic University, Kavala, Greece

    Anastasios Karasavvoglou

  4. Democritus University of Thrace, Komotini, Greece

    Victoria Pistikou

  5. University of Peloponnese, Tripoli, Greece

    Nikolaos Apostolopoulos

Appendix

Appendix

See Tables 3 and 4.

Table 3 Definition of variables
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Table 4 Innovation propensity estimates
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Botrić, V. (2022). Innovation and Skills Requirements in Post-transition Economies. In: Sklias, P., Polychronidou, P., Karasavvoglou, A., Pistikou, V., Apostolopoulos, N. (eds) Business Development and Economic Governance in Southeastern Europe. Springer Proceedings in Business and Economics. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-05351-1_7

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