The moderating effect of a firm's internal climate for innovation on the impact of public R&D support programmes

Abstract

Adopting a broader behavioral additionality framework for evaluating public R&D support programs, this study investigates explicitly the moderating effect of firm's internal climate for innovation on the relationship between public R&D support and firm innovation behavior. We hypothesize that if there is a positive relationship between public R&D support and firm innovation activities, this phenomenon is more likely to be observed in firms with a promotive internal climate for innovation, rather than in firms with a restrictive one. Based on a sample of 135 Singapore manufacturing firms, we discover significant moderating effect of firm's internal climate for innovation on the impact of public R&D support on several measures of firm innovation input, output and collaboration behavior. We identify two distinct dimensions of internal climate for innovation (organizational policies and individual attitudes) which exhibit different moderating effect. Moreover, if this moderating effect is not taken into account, the impact of public R&D support on some aspects of firm innovation behavior may be obscured.

Measuring the Effects of Public Support Schemes on Firms' Innovation Activities. Survey Evidence from Austria

“…The willingness to engage in riskier projects or to create new collaborations only comes into effect after repeated treatment. 10 The latter accords well with the mixed evidence on the role of public policy in creating research collaborations results (see Wong and He (2003) and the previously cited studies). Both the kick-off and cumulative effects of funding can also be observed with respect to the size of the firm.…”

“…The results from this comparison will be presented in section 4.3. At last section 4.4 qualifies the previous findings 6 In Wong and He (2003) the funding status remains exogenous.…”

“…The latter are coded as dummies where the reference group is given by the set of firms that rates the -14 -suggested obstacle as irrelevant. Last, we proceed as Wong and He (2003) and include basic background characteristics such as sectoral affiliation and size of the firm. As an additional control variable we coded a "start-up dummy" which is equal to one if the firm had been founded within the last five years prior to the survey.…”

Human Resource Management Practices And Organizational Innovation: An Empirical Study In Malaysia

“…Product innovation also known as product development, is a systematic work process, drawing upon existing knowledge gained from research and practical experiences directed towards the production of new materials, products and devices, including prototypes (Hage & Hollingsworth, 2005). Process innovation is defined as developing a new or substantially improved production process through new equipment or reengineering of operational process (Wong & He, 2003). Generally, administrative innovation refers to performance derived from the changes in organizational structure and administrative process, reward and information system, and it encompasses basic work activities within the organization that is directly related to management (Chew, 2000;Damanpour & Evan, 1984;Mavondo, Chimhanzi & Stewart, 2005).…”

The impact of technology intermediaries on firm cognitive capacity additionality

“…In their study on organizational learning, Lane and Lubatkin [46] argue that understanding the relevant basic knowledge permits the 'student' firm to understand the assumptions that shape the 'teacher' firm's knowledge and to be in a better position to evaluate the importance of the transferred knowledge. Similarly, Wong and He [47] mention that a firm's internal climate for innovation functions as a moderator for the relationship between R&D support and firm innovation behaviour. Muscio [42] further indicates that firms learn from a variety of external sources [48] and must master the capabilities required to search, find, access and interpret information embodied in external organizations, in order to successfully access new knowledge through collaborations.…”