Ülke düzeyinde inovasyon, rekabetçilik ve insani gelişim arasındaki ilişkilerin incelenmesi ve bu ilişkilere ulusal kültürün etkisi
Examining the relationship between innovation, competitiveness, human development at the country level and the impact of national culture on these relations
Yazar: BAŞAK ÇETİNGÜÇ
Danışman: PROF. DR. FETHİ ÇALIŞIR
İstanbul Teknik Üniversitesi / Lisansüstü Eğitim Enstitüsü / Endüstri Mühendisliği Ana Bilim Dalı / Endüstri Mühendisliği Bilim Dalı
Derece: Doktora, 2024
Konu: Endüstri ve Endüstri Mühendisliği = Industrial and Industrial Engineering

Özet:
Dünya bilgi çağına yaraşır bir şekilde hızlı bir dönüşüm ve gelişim döneminden geçmektedir. Bu değişimler insanlığa eşi benzeri görülmemiş bir potansiyel sunarken, aynı zamanda bir dizi ciddi endişeyi de beraberinde getirmektedir. Bu dinamik ve karmaşık ortamın bir sonucu olarak, ulusların refahlarını korumak ve artırmak için gösterdikleri sürekli çaba, çeşitli sorunlar veya gelişmeler tarafından sınanmaktadır. Sonuç olarak, uluslar mevcut konumlarını korumak, temel ihtiyaçlarını ivedilikle karşılamak ve eski zamanlardan bu yana mümkün olan en müreffeh geleceğin peşinde koşmak için çabalamaktadır. Dolayısıyla rekabet güçlerini koruyup geliştirmek için literatürde rekabet gücüne etkisi olduğu öne sürülen iki anahtar kavram olan insani gelişme ve yenilikçiliğe odaklanmalıdır. Buna istinaden bu çalışmada ülkeler farklı gelir gruplarına ayrılarak, kullanıma açık olan uluslararası endekslerden veriler çekilerek, ulusal anlamda insani gelişim ve yenilikçiliğin rekabetçilik üzerindeki etkileri incelenmiştir. Kullanılan veri setleri arasında Dünya Ekonomi Forumu'nun yayınladığı Küresel Rekabetçilik Endeksi (GCI), Avrupa İşletme Enstitütsü (Institut Européen D'administration des Affaires – INSEAD), Dünya Fikri Mülkiyet Örgütü (World Intellectual Property Organization – WIPO) ve Cornell Üniversitesi SC Johnson İşletme Fakültesi iş birliğiyle yayımlanan Küresel İnovayon Endeksi (GII) ve Birleşmiş Milletler Kalkınma Programı (UNDP) tarafından yayımlanan İnsani Gelişim Endeksi kullanılmıştır. Ayrıca incelenen ilişkilere ulusal kültürün moderator etkisi olup olmadığı da araştırma soruları arasında yer aldığından, ulusal kültürün bu ilişkilere etkisini ölçmek için de Hofstede'nin Kültürel Boyutları kullanılmıştır. Veri önişleme işlemlerinden sonra elde edilen veriler ile birlikte toplamda 121 ülkenin 2010-2019 yılları arasındaki panel veri setiyle Ortak İlişkili Etkiler Ortalama Grup (CCEMG) ve Artırılmış Ortalama Grup (AMG) tahmincileri kullanılarak panel veri analizleri gerçekleştirilmiştir. Ayrıca, değişkenler arasındaki nedensel ilişkileri incelemek için Çift Yönlü Dumitrescu Hurlin Panel Nedensellik Testleri yapılmıştır. Analizlerin sonuçları, HDI'nın tüm gelir gruplarında GCI üzerinde anlamlı bir pozitif etkiye sahip olduğunu göstermektedir. Yaşam standartlarının yükseltilmesi ve toplumun tüm üyeleri için eşit eğitim fırsatlarının sağlanması da dahil olmak üzere insani kalkınmanın iyileştirilmesi, bir ülkenin rekabet gücüne katkıda bulunabilir. Ayrıca, GII'nın GCI üzerindeki etkisinin gelir grubuna göre değiştiği bulunmuştur. Sonuçlar, özellikle üst-orta gelirli ülkeler için GII'nın GCI üzerindeki etkisinin desteklenmediğini göstermektedir. Bu nedenle, inovasyon yoluyla rekabet gücünü artırmaya yönelik stratejiler geliştirirken bir ülkenin gelir grubunu göz önünde bulundurmak önemlidir. Ayrıca kültürün bu ilişkiler üzerindeki etkisi araştırılmış, çok etkileyici sonuçlar bulunamamıştır. Bu çalışmanın bulguları politika yapıcılara, araştırmacılara, akademisyenlere ve politikacılara bakış açılarını geliştirmelerinde ve eylem için stratejik ve etkili öneriler formüle etmelerinde yardımcı olabilir.

Abstract:
The world is undergoing a period of rapid transformation and development befitting the information age. While these changes offer humanity unprecedented potential, they also raise a number of serious concerns. As a result of this dynamic and complex environment, the constant efforts of nations to maintain and increase their prosperity are being tested by various challenges or developments. As a result, nations strive to maintain their current position, urgently meet their basic needs and pursue the most prosperous future possible since ancient times. Especially, after Porter's definition linking national competitiveness with national productivity, national competitiveness has become popular, and the need for research from various angles has emerged due to the frequent use of this term in academia and business. In this process, it has become increasingly recognized that economic concepts alone are not an adequate measure of a country's competitiveness, and national competitiveness has evolved from a concept that was considered only in terms of economic growth to a concept that incorporates macroeconomic and microeconomic indicators. Ultimately, national competitiveness has evolved into a comprehensive concept that includes various dimensions (e.g. productivity, institutions, competencies, technological readiness, infrastructure, education and training) in a single context. Consequently, the task of assessing the competitiveness of countries and the factors that influence competitiveness has been a prominent topic for numerous years. Policymakers have expressed significant concerns about national competitiveness due to globalization, rapid technological advancements, and the decreasing economic distance. Therefore, it is necessary to have a methodical evaluation instrument that nations can use to track their level of competitiveness and evaluate their respective achievements according to pre-established standards. Stakeholders from various sectors have utilized ranking indices for multiple objectives, such as assisting businesses in deciding investment strategies, allowing governments to compare policies aimed at luring enterprises, and helping academics to undertake cross-country research. Recently, both academic literature and real-world applications have highlighted the significant impact of innovation on global competitiveness. Nevertheless, innovation is vital for both expansion and endurance, since firms and governments must engage in innovative practices in an ever-changing global market to maintain their competitiveness. Innovation is not an isolated phenomenon, but rather a complex process that relies on a country's ability to obtain, assimilate, spread, and utilize advanced technology. Thus, policymakers require a means to evaluate the effectiveness of government interventions in innovation policy and compare the level of innovation and performance among different countries, particularly in relation to one another. In order to assess the global standing of nations with regard to innovation and competitiveness, various institutions have ultimately developed indices. Furthermore, human capital, a multifaceted component of economic and social progress, encompasses the skills and knowledge of the workforce, and its impact is directly correlated with a nation's level of competitiveness. Therefore, answers to these research questions were sought within the scope of this thesis: Is there a relationship between competitiveness, innovation and human development at the country level? If so, how should these relationships be handled in the context of causality? Do these effects differ in country groups divided by income level? What is the impact of culture on these relationships? Accordingly, the aim of this study to examine the effects of human development and innovation on competitiveness in national terms by dividing countries into different income groups and drawing data from available international indices. The datasets used include the Global Competitiveness Index (GCI) published by the World Economic Forum, the Global Innovation Index (GII) published by the Institut Européen D'administration des Affaires (INSEAD), the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) and Cornell University SC Johnson School of Business, and the Human Development Index published by the United Nations Development Program (UNDP). In addition, Hofstede's Cultural Dimensions were used to measure the impact of national culture on these relationships, as the research questions included whether national culture has a moderating effect on the relationships examined. The country data was obtained from the World Bank's database. According to the World Bank's classification, countries were categorized into four groups for analysis: low-income countries, lower-middle-income countries, upper-middle-income countries, and high-income countries, based on their per capita income. Initialy, the analysis start with a total of 217 countries. After completing the pre-processing analysis of missing country data, the countries were classified into three categories: lower-middle income countries, upper-middle income countries, and high-income countries. The final number of countries included in the analysis was determined to be 121. The claimed explanation for this was the inadequate data in low-income nations.
With the data obtained after data preprocessing, panel data analyses were conducted using the Common Correlated Effects Mean Group (CCEMG) and Augmented Mean Group (AMG) estimators with the panel data set of 121 countries between 2010-2019. Additionally, Pairwise Dumitrescu Hurlin Panel Causality Tests were conducted to examine the causal relationships between variables. The results of the analyses show that HDI has a significant positive effect on GCI in all income groups. Improving human development, including raising living standards and ensuring equal educational opportunities for all members of society, can contribute to a country's competitiveness. Moreover, the impact of GII on GCI is found to vary by income group. The results suggest that the effect of GII on GCI is not supported, especially for upper-middle-income countries. Therefore, it is important to consider a country's income group when developing strategies to enhance competitiveness through innovation.
Then, by examining whether there is a moderating effect of cultural dimensions on these relationships, the moderating effect of human development and innovation on national competitiveness, which has not been done before in the literature, was examined. It has been observed that the moderating effects on these relationships do not differ sharply according to the cultural dimensions of the countries. Although Hofstede's cultural dimensions, which are the most widely used cultural dimensions supported by empirical studies in the literature and which provide an understanding of cultural values in the national sense, have been used, the need and importance of institutions, organizations and research institutes conducting index studies as a service to society to conduct up-to-date studies in terms of cultural values in order to see the results more clearly has emerged once again as a result of these analyzes.
The findings of this study can help policymakers, researchers, academics and politicians to improve their perspectives and formulate strategic and effective recommendations for action.
Although this work provides significant contributions to the existing body of knowledge, it also has certain limitations that indicate potential topics for further research. The primary challenge lies in the availability of data, as it relies on secondary data obtained from worldwide indices. Furthermore, the time duration can also be revised and prolonged. Furthermore, as a result of a substantial data deficiency, this analysis does not include low-income countries. Hence, if data is accessible, it is imperative to incorporate the low-income demographic. Ultimately, the model could be enhanced by incorporating nation-specific variables, such as cultural attributes or geographical positions, in order to examine the dynamics of different countries.