Organisational innovability: exploring the impact of human and social capital in the banking industry

Abstract

We propose an organisational innovability framework focused on understanding the effect of the interaction of human capital quality and social capital on firms' innovation. The case study is based on qualitative research of six financial service firms in Taiwan. The results show that the main components of human capital in financial service firms include professional knowledge/skills, industry experiences, educational background, and ethics. The study shows ethics to be the priority of human capital quality, particularly in the financial and banking industry where employee morality/integrity overrides professional knowledge and skills. We also found that high-quality human capital leads to excellent innovative capabilities. The main innovative capability in financial service firms is incremental capability rather than radical capability. The results further show that social capital may moderate the relationship between human capital and firms’ innovability. These findings contribute to academic fields and practical applications.

Keywords:

• human capital quality
• innovation
• social capital
• Taiwan