THE IMPACT OF HUMAN RESOURCES ON THE EXPORT PERFORMANCE OF KOSOVO SMEs

Abstract

This paper highlights the importance of human resources in the performance of Kosovo exporting SMEs. Due to its fragile past, Kosovo has suffered greatly from both economic and human resources underdevelopment. In the late 1990s, the European Union (EU) began to promote trade liberalization in order to bring about regional reconciliation in the Western Balkan region. SMEs in Kosovo need to develop their competitiveness in order to increase their exports. Therefore, the aim of this paper is to analyze the impact of human resource characteristics such as the number of employees, education level, and attendance of training related to exports on the level of exports of 100 Kosovo SMEs. The Probit model is used to derive statistical results. Statistical analysis is conducted based on descriptive statistics, Reliability Test - Cronbach’s Alpha-, Pseudo R2, LR chi2, the Prob>chi2 and Wald test. It can be concluded that this research will be of interest for the field of Human Resources Management as well as the scientific community in developing countries such as Kosovo. The main conclusion of the paper is that human resources of Kosovo exporting SMEs do not have the necessary expertise and contemporary knowledge regarding international trade.