The mediating role of personnel training between innovation and performance: Evidence from the German pharmaceutical industry

Abstract

Purpose-The need for companies to become more innovative has never been greater, because innovation helps them deal with a turbulent environment by providing them a sustainable competitive advantage. In this sense, it has been generally accepted that a successful innovative environment requires a welltrained work force. Nevertheless, the literature showing how personnel training drives the innovationperformance relationship in industries where innovation is a key factor is scarce, especially in high-tech industries such as the pharmaceutical industry. Thus, we build upon existing studies to contribute to the innovation and training-related literature by considering the latter as a mediating variable between innovation and business performance. Hence, we aim to assess the impact of innovation on performance, and bring new insights into the innovation-performance link by including training as a variable that drives the aforementioned relationship. Design/methodology-We apply the partial least squares structural equation modeling technique to a sample of German pharmaceutical firms. The data were collected in mid-2014 by means of a computerassisted telephone interviewing (CATI) procedure. As a result, 200 valid responses were obtained from CEOs. Findings-First, this study demonstrates that both innovation and personnel training have a significant, positive impact on performance. Second, the results suggest that training personnel does indeed positively mediate the innovation-performance link. Hence, our study helps explain how innovation effectively translates into greater levels of performance. Originality / value-We answer calls to clarify about the innovation-personnel training relationship to generate greater levels of performance in turbulent environments. Furthermore, we assess this fact in the pharmaceutical industry, where paradoxically there is a lack of studies within the aforementioned framework.

Innovación y rendimiento: relación mediada por la orientación al aprendizaje y al mercado en empresas mexicanas

“…Los resultados de esta investigación se sitúan a la par de la postura de Slater y Narver (1994) y Noruzy et al (2013), quienes argumentan que las empresas más innovadoras desarrollan habilidades que las conducen a lograr un mejor desempeño. Se detectó que la influencia significativa de la innovación en el rendimiento empresarial es consistente con estudios empíricos (Apraiz y Antonio, 2020;Hult et al, 2009;Mahmoud et al, 2016;Suliyanto y Rahab, 2012).…”

“…En este sentido, la innovación es un esfuerzo intencional por realizar un cambio orientado al potencial económico de la empresa (Drucker, 2000). Las empresas que innovan mantienen y expanden sus mercados de productos y clientes con el fin de captar información de los competidores para reposicionar su oferta y, en épocas de contingencia, prepararse para la supervivencia (Apraiz y Antonio, 2020;Baker y Sinkula, 2009;Julian, Mohamad, Ahmed y Sefnedi, 2014).…”

Fostering creative selling through ethics. An emotion‐based approach

“…Moreover, sales managers can implement specific training and mentoring programs to help salespeople understand what ethical behaviors they should be engaging in and what constitutes a fair treatment of customers (Albizu et al, 2019; Apraiz & De Antonio, 2020; Hyatt & Prawitt, 2001). Managers' efforts to create an EC should focus especially on less experienced salespeople, as recent meta‐analytic studies conclude that less experienced boundary spanners show a weaker relationship between EC and work outcomes (Friend et al, 2020).…”

The influence of employees on retailer success under conditions of strategic change

“…• Interpersonal impact: an individual employee's contributions to another individuals work product through (1) collaboration, (2) enabling another individual to execute their own job tasks more enjoyable, efficiently, or effectively, (3) and/or by creating a positive work environment (e.g., Castillo-Apraiz & De Antonio, 2020;Dermol, & Cater, 2013).…”

“…Past studies (e.g., Castillo-Apraiz & De Antonio, 2020;Dermol, & Cater, 2013) have examined elements such as personnel training in predicting firm performance. However, it is not common to utilize an outcome variable like interpersonal impact alongside financial metrics.…”