Innovative Behaviour of High-Tech Internationalized Firms: Survey Results from Poland

Objective: The aim of the article is to identify and verify the relationship between internationalization and innovativeness as well as innovative behaviour of high-tech businesses in Polish context. Research Design & Methods: A quantitative research design was employed. A survey was conducted on the sample of 263 firms operating in high-tech industries in Poland. To verify the assumed relationships statistical instruments were used, including descriptive statistics, Chi-Square test, the Kruskal-Wallis test and multivariate regression. Findings: The level of innovativeness of investigated hi-tech firms was relatively high. Results suggest that the innovativeness of a business contributes to the intensification of the internationalization process of firms operating in high-tech industries. The regression model confirms the dependence of internationalization on three innovative behaviours, such as the general evaluation of innovativeness of the firm), the pace of innovation diffusion and the number of implemented innovations. Implications & Recommendations: Polish high-tech businesses seem to be relatively well internationalized, especially in comparisons to general business population. Policy makers should continue to support innovativeness of Polish economy, but especia­lly these industries which are highly innovative. Contribution & Value Added: The research presented in the article seems to be one of the first in Poland investigating into internationalization and innovation in high-tech industries. The results are in line with the majority of empirical evidence worldwide. The preliminary link between innovation and internationalization among Polish high–tech businesses was confirmed