Innovation Management and Usage of Knowledge Transfer in Tourism Enterprises

Abstract

This paper presents an overview of issues related to the role of the chosen aspects of knowledge management in tourism enterprises. The development of tourism and achieving positive effects from it is primarily supported by the possession of tourism assets and attractions. However, to fully absorb them, it is necessary to create innovations in tourism enterprises and regions. Undertaking this subject is justified by the need to transfer the current knowledge in the field of innovation to the tourism sector. The paper aims to demonstrate the determinants of tourism enterprises’ innovation, with particular emphasis on the importance of knowledge and its transfer. The primary, quantitative research presented in the paper was conducted in Poland among tourism enterprises. 1200 tourism enterprises were tested, extracted from the population of over 12000 units placed in official databases. The main scientific goals of the study were: to recognise and empirically verify the conditions of innovation management in Polish tourism enterprises, to identify external and internal determinants affecting the formation of innovation in these enterprises and to assess the effects of introduced innovations. The study established a research hypothesis: Internal factors such as the involvement and creativity of employees in the creation and transfer of knowledge have a significant impact on the innovation of tourism enterprises. The presented results indicate that the main drivers of innovation are exogenous factors and come especially from customers’ expectations, willingness to use external sources of financing and benchmarking focused primarily on foreign enterprises. The impact of human resources and knowledge management processes on these processes is varied, and in the case of these determinants of innovation, the relatively largest impact was noted in the case of: knowledge transfer within the enterprise, efficient human resources management, creativity of employees and the creation of new knowledge resources in the company. The paper points to the need to change the approach of managers of tourism enterprises, to include roles attributed to employees in finding innovative solutions and transfer of the new knowledge. For this purpose, companies should develop these resources in terms of their quantity and quality.