Government and innovation performance: evidence from the ICT enterprising community

Purpose The purpose of this paper will be on finding and analyzing the impact of government on the information and communication technology (ICT) companies’ innovation performance. The study aims to conduct in-depth research about the government as an integrated actor of the innovation ecosystem (IE), not a sole member. This would be the core finding toward doing further research about the impact of the innovation ecosystem in the ICT sector in Kosovo. Design/methodology/approach Quantitative research has been considered the most suitable data collection method. Furthermore, in this study, it is used convenience sampling as a technique of the sampling process. The sample size of this study is 106 participants. The participants are owners or representatives of ICT companies in Kosovo. Since the study is conducted using the deductive approach, the questionnaire is considered to be the most suitable instrument for gathering data. Findings This paper provides empirical insights that the company’s size and the dedicated department for research and development have no impact on how the company takes advantage of public funding from the government. Furthermore, the authors of the paper found out that government has a positive impact on companies’ introduction of new products and services, while the impact of the government on a company’s financial performance was insignificant. Research limitations/implications The future research direction should be firstly on studying other IE actors and their impact on companies’ innovation performance and secondly on measuring the IE actors as a set of actors to have a broader picture on how IE impacts the companies’ innovation performance. Practical implications The scientific contribution of this study will be on mapping, analyzing and proposing government policies in accordance with the findings of this study that would lead to a more comprehensive and sustainable IE in Kosovo. Originality/value This study tries to fulfill an identified need to study the impact of interconnected actors of an innovation ecosystem and to show how they affect each other. In this study, it is taken for research one fragment of a set of actors.

Employees’ Perceptions on the Relationship of Intellectual Capital and Business Performance of ICT Companies

The ICT sector has been recognized as a sector with great potential for the growth and development of the economy of the Republic of Serbia. This initiated the need to analyze the strategic aspect of the ICT sector intellectual capital concept. The purpose of the paper is to empirically test the impact of intellectual capital on business performance within the ICT sector. The research was conducted on a sample of 611 employees in ICT sector companies in the Republic of Serbia. The partial least squares method was used to model the structural equations for analysis of the primary data and testing of the hypotheses. The findings show a positive and statistically significant relationship between individual components of intellectual capital and the business performance of ICT companies, which confirms the hypotheses. Human capital proved to have the strongest influence on the business performance of ICT companies. This paper provides new scientific knowledge which can contribute to creating long-term strategies that shall focus on more sophisticated management of intellectual capital, compared to the traditional tasks of allocating resources of the organization. The findings may be of interest to other sectors stakeholders to provide deeper understanding on intellectual capital as an essential source of companies’ competitive advantage that can positively impact business performance.

Integrated reporting and firms' performance of listed ICT companies in Nigeria

The purpose of this study is to examine the effect of corporate performance of 9 listed ICT companies in Nigeria over a period of ten years (2011 – 2020). MVA and ROA were employed as market and financial based measures of performance and controlling for Leverage, Firm size and Age. Panel regression was employed using fixed effect model to test the study hypothesis. The findings from the analysis revealed a positive and significant association between IRINDEX and MVA while the result was insignificant between ROA and IRINDEX. All the control variables were significantly associated with IRINDEX. The model was also significant with f-statistics probability significant at 1% (0.000) level. The model account for about 66.21% variation in IRINDEX. The study therefore concluded that, corporate performance affect IR only in the long-run. The study recommended that, regulatory agencies in Nigeria should enact laws that make it mandatory for quoted companies to adopt IR or grant tax credit to voluntary compliers and lastly, managers should strive to adopt IR not minding its cost implication in the short-run as the benefit will accrue in the long-run.

Inter-Organizational Trust on Financial Performance: Proposing Innovation as a Mediating Variable to Sustain in a Disruptive Era

Hungarian Information and Communication Technology (ICT) companies have an essential role to play in a disruptive era. ICT firms should collaborate and innovate to obtain profit. The elusive correlation between trust in business partners and financial performance inspired this study, which proposed innovation as a mediating variable. The research had two objectives: to investigate the effect of inter-organizational trust on financial performance and innovation and to observe the role of innovation in improving financial performance within different categories of ICT companies. The population included active Hungarian ICT firms. The analysis used 100 samples, comprising micro-, small-, and medium-sized ICT corporations. Those samples were selected by random cluster sampling. This research used Partial Least Square Structural Equation Modelling. This study supported the idea that inter-organizational trust improved innovation, and that innovation enhanced financial performance. As an expected finding, innovation could mediate a positive direction between inter-organizational trust and financial performance.

The effect of servant leadership on innovative work behavior and employee knowledge sharing in the Latvian ICT sector

PurposeThis study aims to peruse the underlying effect of servant leadership (SL) on innovative work behavior (IWB) and employee knowledge sharing behavior (KSB), directly and through the mediating effect of job autonomy (JA), by using autonomous psychological needs of self-determination theory and embracing Hofstede's framework in information and telecommunication technology (ICT) companies in Latvia.Design/methodology/approachA quantitative analysis of data from 271 employees and managers in Latvian ICT companies was used by applying structural equation modeling.FindingsThe result discloses that SL can promote IWB and KSB directly and through mediating effects of JA.Research limitations/implicationsThe research is constricted by geography and sample data representation from a specific sector. Hence, future studies can determine the gender effects, carry out more preventive measures to avoid common method bias between constructs, measure antecedents and the mediator before outcomes and examine JA as a moderator.Practical implicationsThe findings demonstrate that the Latvian ICT sector should recruit managers with SL potentials, train and equip managers with the required resources to implement SL practices properly and integrate JA across the organization to increase the manifestation of IWB and KSB.Originality/valueThis paper is the first to examine JA as the underlying process through which SL’s effects on IWB and KSB are explained in an individualistic country.

Trust levels within categories of information and communication technology companies

The arguable claims of levels of trust in politics and business situations motivated this study, which investigates the degree of trust within micro, small, and medium categories of Hungarian Information and Communication Technology (ICT) companies. Different sizes of companies have varying interactions between internal members and their business partners. This study concentrated on exploring Hungarian ICT companies due to their significant role in supporting Industry 4.0. The study population are active Hungarian ICT companies. This research implemented random cluster selection related to the location of ICT firms. It exploited 100 samples, including micro, small, and medium-sized companies, and implemented discriminant analysis to examine the description and hypotheses. First, this study found that the level of trust in institutions within micro, small, and medium-sized companies varies significantly. The level of trust in institutions proliferates within corporations due to the capability of the formal institution to provide fair public services. This research additionally underlined that the performance of the Hungarian government would improve trust amongst the companies. Second, this study concluded that the level of interpersonal trust within three categories of companies was similar. A high level of interpersonal trust would expand internal engagement among the members of companies. Finally, the level of trust in business partners varied significantly within the distinct sizes of Hungarian ICT companies. A high level of trust in corporate associates improves business collaboration, reduces uncertainty, and supports long-term business connections. Levels of institutional trust and inter-organizational trust differed amongst different categories of companies. However, the level of interpersonal trust remained similar within companies of the various sizes.