An Empirical Investigation of the Effect of Hard and Soft ICT Investment on Innovation Activity of Greek Firms

Abstract

Firms have been making big investments in information and communication technologies (ICT) in the last twenty years. Therefore the investigation of their effect on various aspects of business performance is necessary. This paper presents an empirical investigation and comparison of the effects of hard and soft ICT investment, and also of four 'traditional' innovation drivers (demand expectation, price and non-price competition, market concentration), on the innovation activity of Greek firms. In particular, we examine from this perspective four different types of soft ICT investment in ICT structures, personnel, skills and processes. Our results indicate that while in the innovation averse Greek national context none of the examined traditional innovation drivers have a statistically significant impact on the innovation activity of Greek firms, both hard ICT investment, and three of the examined types of soft ICT investment (in ICT personnel, skills and processes), do have such positive impacts.