Descriptive Statistics
Due to missing values, 1,012 SMEs have been removed from the research sample. Table I reports the main sample characteristics for the remaining 1,890 SMEs, grouped according to the level of EC, INC and EP. The groups turn out to be unbalanced, showing very few SMEs in the High INC condition (n = 476), especially when in combination with Low EC & Low EP (n = 64), and High EC & Low EP (n = 71). Furthermore, comparing the average GIC values in the different conditions it emerges that the low EC, low INC & low EP condition shows the lowest mean score (M = − 0.27). Conversely, the highest mean score corresponds to the high EC, high INC & high EP condition (M = 0.36), providing, therefore, a preliminary indication in favor of the research hypotheses.
Table I: Descriptive Statistics of GIC Scores by Variable Level
| EC | INC | EP | \(n\) | mean | median | \(sd\) | \(cv\) |
|---|