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Productivity dispersion in the Italian knowledge-intensive business services (KIBS) industry: a multilevel analysis

Domenico Campisi (Department of Industrial Engineering, University of Rome Tor Vergata, Rome, Italy)
Paolo Mancuso (Department of Industrial Engineering, University of Rome Tor Vergata, Rome, Italy)
Stefano Luigi Mastrodonato (Department of Industrial Engineering, University of Rome Tor Vergata, Rome, Italy)
Donato Morea (Department of Mechanical, Chemical and Materials Engineering, University of Cagliari, Cagliari, Italy)

Management Decision

ISSN: 0025-1747

Article publication date: 13 July 2021

Issue publication date: 21 March 2022

241

Abstract

Purpose

This paper aims to provide an analysis of the productivity evolution of a sample of 18,459 knowledge-intensive business services (KIBS) firms operating in Italy over the period 2012–2018. The interaction between productivity heterogeneity firm localization and firm sector of business are also analyzed.

Design/methodology/approach

The empirical setting is based on data envelopment analysis (DEA) to measure the multifactor productivity index (MPI) and on the multilevel models to investigate if the source of productivity heterogeneity among the Italian KIBS are due to the geographic location and/or to the specific business sectors in which firms operate. Data have been gathered from the AIDA database, which contains financial data of all Italian firms.

Findings

The empirical results show that MPI heterogeneity in the Italian KIBS firms' is sensitive to the regional context in which firms operate to the specific KIBS sector and above all at the interactions arising between region and sector.

Originality/value

The paper contributes to identify the source of productivity dispersion in the Italian KIBS.

Keywords

Citation

Campisi, D., Mancuso, P., Mastrodonato, S.L. and Morea, D. (2022), "Productivity dispersion in the Italian knowledge-intensive business services (KIBS) industry: a multilevel analysis", Management Decision, Vol. 60 No. 4, pp. 940-952. https://doi.org/10.1108/MD-11-2020-1578

Publisher

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Emerald Publishing Limited

Copyright © 2021, Emerald Publishing Limited

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