Non-R&D ejmployees: The effects on product innovations
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2020-08-12
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en
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Abstract
Nowadays, gaining a competitive advantage through the use of innovation has become vital in the fast-changing environment and markets. The majority of the studies are focused on research and development (R&D). However, other research has shown that firms can also innovate through non-R&D activities such as employee-driven innovation (EDI). The rationale behind this is that non-R&D employees have the skills, experiences, and knowledge to contribute to innovation. Moreover, EDI is underexposed in the existing literature. Therefore, the present study examines to what extent non-R&D employees contribute to the firms’ product innovativeness by measuring the employees’ innovative work behavior (IWB). The present study also investigates how firms could facilitate and manage the employees’ IWB by considering the high-performance-work-systems (HPWS). A mixed-method study is conducted. The quantitative part consists of the EMS data 2015 of Dutch manufacturing establishments (N=177). Additionally, six semi-structured interviews were held at Dutch manufacturing firms. The main conclusion is that non-R&D employees, production employees, in particular, contribute to incremental product innovations and process innovation. However, it depends also on certain job functions. Moreover, under the right conditions, HPWS fosters the employees’ IWB. It was also found that the innovative culture, the strategy to innovate (R&D or not), and the size of the firm may affect the contribution of non-R&D employees to the firms’ innovativeness. This provides suggestions for future research.
Keywords: Employee-driven innovation (EDI), product innovation, High-performance-work-systems (HPWS), employees’ innovative work behavior (IWB)
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Faculteit der Managementwetenschappen