Abstract:

It is due to the growing role of services in economic growth that innovative activities in this area are particularly important. It is a natural consequence of the fact that services have a significant impact on productivity and competitiveness of the economy and quality of life. The aim of this article is to assess the level of services sector innovativeness in the European Union (EU-28). This assessment was carried out on the basis of linear ordering methods, which fall within the scope of multidimensional comparative analysis and broader taxonomy. To a large extent these methods are achievements of Polish statistical and econometric developments. The first stage of considerations is focused on explaining the specific nature of innovativeness in services and the issues related to its measurement. The literature analysis carried out enabled identification of differences between innovativeness in services and production. Then, using four methods of linear ordering - two modelless methods (standardized sums method, rank method) and two model methods (Hellwig's development pattern method, TOPSIS method), the linear ordering of the analysed objects (EU countries) was carried out. The article uses data of the European Commission, which are collected using the methodology "The European Service Innovation Scoreboard". As a result of the elaboration, four groups of countries with a differentiated level of service innovativeness were distinguished. The analyses carried out indicate that the level of services innovativeness is very diversified. In many countries, measures have to be taken to create favourable conditions for innovativeness in services sector. The originality of the study is expressed in the application of taxonomic methods in the assessment of countries' innovativeness in relation to the service sector, which should be considered as the authors' contribution to the development of research on the presented topics.