engleski

THE PREDICTORS OF INNOVATIVENESS IN THE TOURISM INDUSTRY: A COMPARATIVE STUDY BETWEEN CROATIA AND SLOVENIA

Purpose – As innovation is one of the key factors of competitive advantage and of performance, tourism firms have to be creative and innovative. The purpose of this study is to (1) present statistical data from the tourism area of both countries, (2) present the dimensions influencing innovativeness (entrepreneurial orientation, networking technological development and external business environment), (3) develop measures and carry out a survey on the sample of tourism companies and (3) perform a preliminary comparative analysis between two neighbouring countries, i.e. Slovenia and Croatia. Methodology – To achieve ur research objectives, we firstly carried out a literature review, aiming to develop a conceptual model, including dimensions that influence innovativeness. To obtain the information from the tourism companies, a questionnaire was designed. The measures were prepared according to existing studies. After testing it in a pilot group, the questionnaire was translated and then administered to a sample of Slovenian and Croatian tourism companies. The collected data was analysed and the results were discussed. Findings – The paper presents a preliminary comparative study between two neighbouring countries, Slovenia and Croatia. The findings tell of the levels and characteristics of the dimensions (and of the related variables) influencing innovation. The results are presented at both descriptive and univariate level. Contribution – This paper fulfils an identified gap in the literature, namely the lack of comparative studies in the tourism industry in addition to lack of research in the area of innovation in tourism.

tourism, innovativeness, entrepreneurship, networking, organisational culture, external business environment

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