Title: Exports and firm growth: the moderating effect of innovation

Authors: Sara Fernández-López; Manuel Ángel Nogueira-Moreiras; David Rodeiro-Pazos; María Jesús Rodríguez-Gulías

Addresses: Finance and Accounting Department, Universidade de Santiago de Compostela, Avda. do Burgo, s/n., 15782, Santiago de Compostela, Galicia, Spain ' Finance and Accounting Department, Universidade de Santiago de Compostela, Avda. do Burgo, s/n., 15782, Santiago de Compostela, Galicia, Spain ' Finance and Accounting Department, Universidade de Santiago de Compostela, Avda. do Burgo, s/n., 15782, Santiago de Compostela, Galicia, Spain ' Department of Business, Universidade da Coruña, Campus Elviña, 15701, A Coruña, Galicia, Spain

Abstract: It has been claimed that innovation and export activities are important performance vehicles that can increase firm growth. Previous research has ignored how the links between firms' exports and innovation simultaneously affect employment growth at the micro-level. In this paper, using a sample of 3267 Spanish manufacturing firms over the period from 2004 to 2014, we explore the combined effect of exports and innovation on firm employment growth by using quantile regression dynamic panel models. Our results reveal that exporting has different effects on employment growth depending on firm size and the type of innovative activities carried out by firms. The authors find that the employment growth of innovative firms is negatively affected by export activities. Furthermore, the firm growth driven by R&D activities is slightly more pronounced in non-exporter SMEs, and in large innovative firms export activities are positively associated with employment growth in the upper quantiles.

Keywords: exports; innovation; employment growth; Spain; panel data; quantile regressions; manufacturing firms.

DOI: 10.1504/EJIM.2023.134640

European Journal of International Management, 2023 Vol.21 No.4, pp.687 - 710

Received: 05 Sep 2018
Accepted: 21 Sep 2019
Published online: 03 Nov 2023 *

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