Do Mobile Workforces Contribute to Innovation?

Abstract

Are mobile creative workers mainly responsible for innovation in the creative industry because they mediate knowledge transfer and spill-over that are critical in creating new ideas? This paper explores the labour requirements of digital content production. Drawing on 323 digital content (DC) firm samples located in Seoul, South Korea, this paper explores the causal relationship between human resource practices and innovation. A logistic regression of the data reveals that the additive index of a set of organizational practices that aim to foster internal labor pool including selective hiring, retention, and R&D investment is a statistically significant predictor of innovative capacity of the digital content firms in Seoul. However, the additive index of incentive-based HR practices including high compensation and job security did not show a significant relationship with the innovative capacity of firms. This study provides preliminary evidence on the significance of internal organization, and in particular of the role of internal labor pools, in innovation. This study suggests that the leaders of creative industry firms, particularly those in the digital content industry, should carefully choose between exploitation and exploration in managing their creative workers and creative capacity, since these practices may shape the firm’s competitive advantage.