The Role of Creativity in Mediating Absorptive Capacity and Human Capital to Increase Product Innovation in Creative Industry MSMEs

Abstract

This article aims to analyze the role of creativity as a mediating factor in enhancing product innovation within the context of the culinary creative industry MSMEs in Indonesia. This study adopts a quantitative approach and utilizes a survey method for primary data collection through questionnaires from 162 MSMEs. The collected data were analyzed using PLS-SEM. The study's findings indicate that absorptive capacity and human capital have a more direct influence on product innovation compared to the mediation of creativity. Creativity partially mediates the influence of absorptive capacity, while the influence of human capital on product innovation cannot be mediated by creativity.