Can collaborative relationship stimulate innovation capability and improve performance in the hospitality industry

Abstract

An external source becomes one of important factors for sustaining long-term competitions. However, little is known about whether collaborative relationships enhance innovation capability and consequently firm performance in hospitality contexts. The purpose of this paper is to examine complex relationships of collaboration, innovations and performance in the hospitality industry. Based on a survey of 84 hotels in Bangkok, Thailand, the statistical analysis is first analysed using OLS regression method, and then utilising two-stage least-square method for robustness of the results. The findings indicate that collaboration has a positive impact on both internal and service innovation capabilities. However, only internal innovation capability has a direct positive sign on hotel performance. Interestingly, service innovation does not directly influence performance, but collaboration mediates the effect of service innovation capability on hotel performance.