Ndicu, SimonBarasa, LauraNgui, Dianah2023-07-062023-07-062023Ndicu, S., Barasa, L., & Ngui, D. (2023). Impact of firm-level innovation on productivity of manufacturing and service firms in Sub-Saharan Africa. Innovation and Development, 1-22.https://doi.org/10.1080/2157930X.2023.2210435http://ir-library.ku.ac.ke/handle/123456789/26106ArticleThis study investigates the impact offirm-level research andinnovation on the productivity of Sub-Saharan Africanfirms in2014–2018. This study utilizes World Bank Enterprise Surveys on2,867 manufacturing and servicefirms conducted in SSA in 2018/19. Endogenous Switching Regression (ESR) was used as theprimary estimation methodology. The results indicated thatResearch and Development spending positively and significantlyimpacts manufacturingfirms’productivity. In addition, serviceinnovation has a positive and significant effect on theproductivity of servicefirms. In contrast, product innovation isinsignificant to manufacturingfirms’productivity. Lastly, processinnovation is significant only to the manufacturingfirms and notthe servicefirms. These results suggest that Sub-Saharan Africanfirms did not realize maximum innovation productivity gainsduring the study period. Nonetheless, the results imply that otherthan the conventional factor-driven production, Sub-SaharanAfricanfirms have the potential to drive their productivitythrough semi-endogenousfirm-level innovationenSub-Saharan Africaimpact evaluationfirm-level innovationproductivitypropensity score matchingendogenous switching regressionArticle