Nineteenth International Conference on Knowledge, Culture, and Change in Organizations

Abstract

Business firms must innovate to create and sustain competitive advantage. While a number of studies on various aspects of corporate innovation in an emerging market economy like Thailand has recently risen, many questions in the research area of innovation barriers in some industry contexts remain unanswered. The food and beverage industry in Thailand has experienced a tremendous growth in recent decades. The companies in the industry can maintain a high growth rate by continuously adding innovative products to their portfolios. Nonetheless employees play an important role in this value creation activity. Their perception of innovation barriers in the company impacts their willingness to take an active part in corporate innovation. As part of a research stream on employee perception of innovation barriers in the Thai food and beverage industry, this paper aims to investigate the relationship between employee education and perception of barriers to innovation. The results of this study showed that perception of innovation barriers were varied from one employee to another because of employee educational status. Bachelor’s degree holders suggested that fear of failure was largest innovation barriers while master’s degree holders named lack of innovation training as strongest barriers to innovation.