The effects of R&D cooperation on innovation performance in the knowledge-intensive business services industry: focusing on the moderating effect of the R&D-dedicated labor ratio

Abstract

This study conducted an empirical estimation of the effects of R&D cooperation and the proportion of R&D personnel on the performance of four different kinds of innovation in the two major KIBS industries (t-KIBS andp-KIBS). For the empirical analysis, we used a multivariate probit model with 956 samples from the KIBS industry collected using the officially adopted Korean Innovation Survey of 2016. We found that vertical R&D cooperation had a positive effect on the overall performance in thet-KIBS industry, especially on service and marketing performances. On the other hand, horizontal R&D cooperation (competitor and institutional innovation) had a heterogeneous effect on the innovation of the KIBS industry depending on the type of cooperation. The proportion of R&D-dedicated personnel had a positive effect on service product innovation in thep-KIBS industry, but contrary to expectation, a high proportion of R&D personnel had no positive moderating effect with R&D cooperation in improving innovation performance. On the contrary, a high proportion of R&D personnel combined with institutional cooperation negatively affected the achievement of service innovation.