New service innovation success: Analyzing the influence of performance indicator nature

The objected of this paper is twofold: on the one side to analyze the role of cooperative learning and information and communication technologies (ICT) use as drivers of new service innovation success. On the other, identify if the nature of the performance indicator used influences on the high and significance of the dependence relationships. For that we analyze a sample of 287 Spanish SME, which in the last two years have developed new service. Also, it is consider that the new service innovation results can be measured in objective terms - abiding by financial measurements - as well as on the basis of the entrepreneur's perception. The results evidence the direct influence of co-learning, as well as the direct, moderating role of the ICT use in obtaining the maximum level of objective and perceived results. Relevant differences can be observed, depending not only the performance indicator used (objective versus subjective) but also on the contribution of each of the variables to obtaining the maximum result and, therefore, their success. The study provides evidence that enable us to offer certain strategic recommendations of interest for the management of small and medium sized companies (SME). This research provides evidence for the necessity of considering explicit measures of results based on subjective indicators such as the entrepreneur's perception. (C) 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.