The Nexus between Innovation and Internationalization. Evidence from a micro-level Survey of the Romanian ICT Business Sector

Figures & data

Figure 1. Co-occurrence keyword network (1998–2021).

Source: Developed by authors with VOSviewerNote: (a) Co-keyword network visualization (occurrences); (b) co-keyword overlay visualization (occurrences and average publication year scores)

Table 1. Descriptive statistical analysis.

	Romanian owned companies		Foreign affiliates
	Innovative activity	Internationalization	Innovative activity	Internationalization
Mean	3.52	3.54	3.65	3.59
Median	3.61	3.56	3.65	3.59
Standard Deviation	0.37	0.24	0.23	0.52
Minimum	2.67	3.07	3.12	2.22
Maximum	3.94	4.05	3.96	4.51
Count (number of questions)	18	11	16	15

Table 2. KMO and Bartlett’s test.

		Innovative activity	Internationalization of business
Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin Measure of Sampling Adequacy.		.917	.913
Bartlett’s Test of Sphericity	Approx. Chi-Square	1134.483	901.480
	df	136	55
	Sig.	.000	.000

Table 3. Reliability statistics.

	Innovative activity	Internationalization of business
Cronbach’s Alpha	.946	.941

Table 4. Rotated component matrix for Romanian companies.

Innovative activity	Component			Internationalization	Component
	1 (30%)	2 (20%)	3 (17%)		1 (40%)	2 (20%)	3 (20%)
Knowledge acquisition as a priority	.798			Acquisition of new technologies	.891
Flexible organizational structures	.770			Employees’ motivation	.774
Employees’ motivation to learn	.752			New products/services development	.745
The growth of the company was driven by new products/services development	.666			A sound internationalization strategy	.709
Ongoing training for products/services development	.666			Employees’ qualification/lifelong learning	.630
The acquisition of new technologies as a foundation of the product and process innovation	.657			R&D multicultural project teams		.905
New ways of distribution and relationships with customers	.563			Romania’s accession to the EU			.862
Budgeting training for knowledge acquisition	.530			Romanian employees’ English language skills			.744
The innovation – new products/services development		.814
Innovative activity targets process innovations		.778
Robust managerial vision		.681
Fiscal facilities			.803
R&D networks			.786
R&D budget			.657
R&D project teams			.601

Table 5. Rotated component matrix for MNCs affiliates.

Innovative activity	Component			Internationalization	Component
	1 (32%)	2 (20%)	3 (4%)		1 (38%)	2 (20%)	3 (17%)
Budgeting employees’ qualification/training	.816			Innovation encourages the internationalization	.803
Employees’ motivation to improve their skills	.806			R&D activity performed by affiliates	.728
Employees’ motivation to continuous learning	.746			R&D multicultural project teams in affiliates	.718
Budgeting acquisition of new technologies	.565			A sound top management strategy	.715
New products/services development		.755		Multicultural features	.625
Flexible organizational structures		.715		High qualified human resources	.542
New ways of distribution and relationship with customers		.692		Labor-cost advantages		.785
Part of R&D activity is carried out by affiliates		.637		Romania’s accession to the EU		.781
R&D project teams		.562		Fiscal facilities		.746
Process innovation			.816	English language skills		.504
Multicultural features			.563	Acquisition of smaller companies as an entry mode			.645

Summary of statistical models.

Independent variables (innovative activity)	Dependent variables (internationalization)
Romanian companies
	Innovation – led internationalization	Organizational culture	External environment
Human resources development	0.51***	0.32***	0.23**
Innovation strategy	0.35***	0.05	−0.03
R&D organization	0.22***	0.40***	0.07
Diagnostic statistics
R ^2	0.44	0.27	0.05
F Statistics	25.48***	11.95***	1.99
MNCs
	Top management strategy	Costs optimization	Market share
Human resource development	0.53***	0.15	0.19**
Innovation strategy	0.51***	0.08	−0.05
Process innovations	0.24***	0.12	0.01
Diagnostic statistics
R ^2	0.60	0.04	0.04
F Statistics	54.10***	1.63	1.48

Note: *p <0.1; **p <0.05; ***p <0.01