Information Systems and Innovation in Greek Firms - An Empirical Investigation

Abstract

There has been an extensive theoretical literature during the last 20 years supporting that information and communication technologies (ICT) have a huge potential to drive significant innovations in firms' processes, products and services, which can result in big performance improvements. However, limited empirical investigation of this innovation potential of ICT has been conducted. This paper presents an empirical investigation of the impact of two widely used types of information systems (IS) (internal and e-sales ones), and also of four important 'traditional' innovation determinants (demand expectation, price and non-price competition, market concentration) for comparison purposes, on innovation in Greek firms. It has been concluded that in the 'innovation averse' Greek national context both these IS types have a strong positive impact on innovation, whilst this does not hold for any of the examined 'traditional' innovation determinants.