Firm Innovation and Employment in South Africa: Examining the Role of Export Participation and Innovation Novelty

Karmen Naidoo (), Marta Bengoa (), Erika Kraemer-Mbula () and Fiona Tregenna ()
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Karmen Naidoo: DSI/NRF South African Research Chair in Industrial Development, College of Economics and Business, University of Johannesburg.
Marta Bengoa: DST/NRF South African Research Chair in Industrial Development, University of Johannesburg, South Africa
Erika Kraemer-Mbula: DST/NRF/Newton Fund Trilateral Research Chair in Transformative Innovation, the 4th Industrial Revolution and Sustainable Development, University of Johannesburg, South Africa.
Fiona Tregenna: DST/NRF South African Research Chair in Industrial Development, University of Johannesburg, South Africa

No 202103, SARChI-ID Working Papers from SARChI Industrial Development (SARChI-ID), University of Johannesburg (UJ)

Abstract: This paper studies the effect of process and product innovation on firm-level employment growth in South Africa. We contribute through two novel extensions, analysing how export participation and the degree of novelty of innovation affect the innovation-employment relationship. We find process innovation to be more employment generating than product innovation. Furthermore, both process and product innovations have larger positive effects on employment growth for exporting firms relative to non-exporting firms. Finally, firms that introduce more radical innovations (new to the market) experience a higher positive employment effect than firms that introduce less radical innovations (new to the firm).

Keywords: process innovation; product innovation; employment; exporting firms; South Africa (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: D2 J23 L2 O14 O33 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 33 pages
Date: 2021-05, Revised 2021-05
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:adz:wpaper:202103

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