The importance of human-related factors on service innovation and performance

Firm size, collaboration, foreign ownership and the level of formal training for employees are just some of the key inputs considered to be important in the amount of Service innovation in Tourism firms. However work has called for a greater empirical understanding on service innovation in Tourism and deeper consideration of employment focused practices as front line employees are crucial to innovation. The relationship customers have with service providers is a key determinate of satisfaction and as such the aim of this research is to unpick further the human-related factors associated with this area of study. Data for this research paper were gathered from 201 tourism service firms located throughout Japan. Whilst the results indicate that committed front-line employees and leadership are found to be the primary antecedents of service innovation, knowledge management and instilling creativity through the firm are also key. Our results suggestion that organizations can leverage the benefits associated with human-related factors to enhance service innovation behaviours and increase business performance.