The role of innovation capability on export performance with the mediating role of social capital

Export is one of the key criteria for the internationalization of companies in various businesses, which plays a very important role in the life of companies. On the other hand, the complexity of conditions and the competitiveness of markets have led companies to take advantage of innovation capabilities. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to investigate the effect of innovation capability on the export performance of small and medium enterprises in East Azerbaijan province with the mediating role of social capital.

This research is an applied and quantitative study. Also, small and medium companies in East Azerbaijan province have been selected as the statistical population of this study. In this study, random sampling was performed. Data collection in this study was done through a questionnaire. To analyze and interpret the hypotheses, structural equation modeling method was used by SPSS23 and Amos23 software.

The results show that the ability to innovate directly affects social capital and export performance. Also, social capital has a positive effect on export performance. Finally, the mediating role of social capital between innovation capability and export performance was confirmed.

Small and medium enterprises can improve their competitiveness through social capital and lead to better competitiveness and increase the development and improvement of export performance.