This study advances the literature on human resource management in small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) by analysing how individual and collective forms of performance-related pay (PRP) influence SMEs’ propensity for product and process innovation and how such influence varies depending on the firm’s level of human capital. We used the microdata of more than 12,000 European SMEs, controlled for endogeneity, and found that both individual (i.e. piece rate and commissions) and collective (i.e. group-bonus and profit-sharing) PRP are positively associated with higher levels of firm innovation. Interestingly, when both individual and collective PRP schemes are adopted, their association with firm innovation is significant but negative, indicating that the adoption of multiple pay incentives may be detrimental to SMEs’ innovation. Moreover, our results revealed that the effect of individual PRP on innovation is stronger in SMEs with high levels of human capital, whereas the effect of collective PRP is stronger in SMEs with low levels of human capital.

本研究通过分析绩效相关薪酬 (PRP) 的个人和集体形式如何影响中小企业的产品和流程创新倾向以及这种影响如何因企业的人力资本水平。我们使用了 12,000 多家欧洲中小企业的微观数据，控制了内生性，发现个人（即计件工资和佣金）和集体（即集体奖金和利润分享）PRP 与更高水平的公司创新正相关。有趣的是，当同时采用个人和集体 PRP 计划时，它们与企业创新的关联显着但为负，表明采用多重薪酬激励可能不利于中小企业的创新。而且，