Innovativeness measures: a bibliometric review and a classification proposal

Abstract

Purpose Innovation has been widely studied in business and economics, but different innovation and innovativeness measures have been used by scholars. Within this context, this research aims to identify the main innovation and innovativeness measures used by high-impact or recent papers within the past 10 years. Design/methodology/approach Regarding methodology, the bibliometric process Proknow-C was used, selecting 26 papers from a sample exceeding 2,000 articles in the Web of Science database. Findings Based on the literature review, these articles’ innovativeness measures were classified in terms of inputs, capabilities and outputs. In summary, the articles of the bibliometric portfolio used diverse innovativeness measures comprising inputs (R&D investments, R&D staff qualification, patents, etc.), capabilities and processes (culture, leadership, knowledge, strategy, etc). and outputs (number of innovations, percentage of revenues of innovative products, etc.). Furthermore, a new innovativeness classification was proposed with eight types of organizations considering the presence of inputs, capabilities and outputs. Research limitations/implications Although Proknow-C is an established bibliometric process, it naturally has some limitations to select a bibliometric portfolio of approximately 20 articles from a sample exceeding 2,000 articles. The major limitations involve the filters used, such as aligned titles, number of citations in Google Scholar, Pareto principle, aligned abstracts and full text availability. Originality/value This research contributes to theory, as it covers high-impact and recent papers concerning innovativeness, specifically by analysing the main measures used and by gathering recommended future research directions, beyond proposing an innovativeness classification. It also contributes to practice, as it gathers diverse innovation measures, which could be used by managers in their organizations.