Title: Determinants of firms' innovation and the role of R&D investment and training: empirical evidence from Tunisian SMEs

Authors: Abdelhammid Bourouaha; Samir B. Maliki

Addresses: Faculty of Economics, Business and Management Sciences, Mecas Laboratory, University of Tlemcen, Algeria ' Faculty of Economics, Business and Management Sciences, Mecas Laboratory, University of Tlemcen, Algeria

Abstract: The article aims to examine the determinants of firms' innovation in Tunisia. Following changes in the business world, companies over the world are increasingly including innovation as a strategy to ensure business expansion. Using the World Bank enterprise data-survey to test the correlation between two variables, the determinants of innovation and innovation were obtained, by applying a logit and probit regression approach. The findings showed that R&D investment with other firms, training, and sector variables are an important determinant of innovation. It was however established by the study that the firms' age, size and employee variables negatively affect the chances of innovation. Equally, it was found that the same factors (investing in R&D at home, formal training) were the significant determinants of product, process, organisational, marketing or logistic innovation. Thus, the policy implications of the results recommend that firms should make significant factors as the priorities to boost innovation.

Keywords: innovation; formal training; R&D; Tunisia; logit and probit models.

DOI: 10.1504/IJBIR.2021.116390

International Journal of Business Innovation and Research, 2021 Vol.25 No.3, pp.285 - 303

Received: 27 Mar 2019
Accepted: 07 Aug 2019
Published online: 22 Jul 2021 *

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