Title: Investigating the link between HRM and innovation in SMEs

Authors: Mohammad Alawamleh; Loiy Bani Ismail; Darein Yasin; Mohammed Tuffaha

Addresses: Business Administration Department, American University of Madaba, P.O. Box 2882 Amman 11821, Jordan ' Graduate School of Business Administration, German Jordanian University, P.O. Box 35247 Amman 11180, Jordan ' Business Administration Department, American University of Madaba, P.O. Box 2882 Amman 11821, Jordan ' Business Administration Department, American University of Madaba, P.O. Box 2882 Amman 11821, Jordan

Abstract: The purpose of this paper is to investigate the link between innovation and human resource management (HRM) in small and medium enterprises (SMEs). In order to investigate the aforementioned link, we examined the existing literature on innovation and HRM and collected quantitative and qualitative data through the use of a survey that was presented to eight local SMEs in Jordan regarding the importance of innovation and the use of HRM practices to support innovation within their enterprises. Although our results supported the existing literature, they also revealed that while SMEs recognised the need for innovation and its link to HRM, management underestimated the importance of HRM and concluded that their limited finances would be better allocated to other areas. There have been previously studies that examined the relationship between innovation and HRM, but no study has been conducted to examine this relationship in Jordan specifically. In conclusion, given the importance of innovation for the development of competitive advantages for SMEs, Jordanian entities (and international entities) should recognise its importance and ensure to implement measures that affect all parts of the organisation to build a culture of openness and innovation.

Keywords: innovation; human resources; culture; competitive advantages; management.

DOI: 10.1504/IJBIR.2022.122502

International Journal of Business Innovation and Research, 2022 Vol.27 No.4, pp.526 - 540

Received: 05 Feb 2020
Accepted: 20 Mar 2020
Published online: 28 Apr 2022 *

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