Construção e validação de um instrumento para avaliação do perfil inovador de produtos e serviços em pequenas e médias empresas do nordeste brasileiro

Abstract

Innovation is a priority in developed countries, whose strategy for growth and competitiveness is differentiation in research and development of new technologies. To carry out the innovation process as an organizational strategy, it is important to understand that innovation is a complex task because it occurs at different levels, for different purposes and for issues of resource availability. This thesis aims to build and validate an instrument to evaluate and characterize the profile of innovation in products and services in Small Medium Enterprises in Brazil. The following methodology was adopted: literature mapping; the identification of theoretical gaps and delimitations of the study; description of research methods; the elaboration of the main theoretical constructs; the selection of measurement variables; the elaboration of a data collection instrument; validation of the research instrument questions; the selection of data analysis metrics; the application and analysis of the models used; validation of results; the description of the theoretical implications and; the presentation of suggestions for further research. The instrument was submitted to a validation process, aiming to maximize its reliability, optimize its understanding and eliminate any inaccuracies. The construct validation was performed by factor analysis on the total sample of 400 companies. The overall percentage of agreement was 77.61%. An alpha = 0.98 was obtained with a confidence interval of 95% and a Kaiser-Meyer-Olkim coefficient (KMO = 0.92), a result considered excellent, indicating adequacy of the correlation matrix for the factorial analysis. Bartlett's sphericity test was significant (p-value < 0.001) showing that the variables are correlated with each other. The main results of the study demonstrate adequacy regarding the content and construct validity for the assertions contained in the research instrument. The study makes an original contribution to the literature, highlighting the interest in expanding knowledge among the academic and professional community, in addition to enabling a deeper analysis of the relationship between the evaluated themes.