“This is an Accepted Manuscript of an article published by Taylor & Francis in Industry and Innovation on 2020, available online: https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/13662716.2020.1792273”., [EN] This research considers the hypothesis that firms’ propensity to engage in R&D is linked both to their economic and structural characteristics and to variables related to their perception of science, their appraisal of the benefits and risks of investing in R&D, and their attitude towards the role science plays within the firm. Research is based on the results of the survey ‘Scientific culture, perception and attitudes towards science and innovation in the business sector’, administered to a representative sample of Spanish companies. The results obtained through logistic regression evidence that together with firms’ economic and financial characteristics, which have traditionally been considered crucial factors for engaging in R&D, firms’ perception of science is also a major factor when analysing the way in which they address these processes. There are, indeed, subjective and cultural factors, besides those issues of an economic nature, which may motivate or mitigate firms’ R&D engagement., [ES] Esta investigación considera la hipótesis de que la propensión de las empresas a dedicarse a I+D está vinculada tanto a sus características económicas y estructurales como a variables relacionadas con su percepción de la ciencia, su valoración de los beneficios y riesgos de invertir en I+D y su actitud hacia el papel la ciencia juega dentro de la empresa. La investigación se basa en los resultados de la encuesta 'Cultura científica, percepción y actitudes hacia la ciencia y la innovación en el sector empresarial', administrada a una muestra representativa de empresas españolas. Los resultados obtenidos mediante regresión logística evidencian que, junto con las características económicas y financieras de las empresas, que tradicionalmente se han considerado factores cruciales para dedicarse a la I+D, la percepción de las empresas sobre la ciencia también es un factor importante a la hora de analizar la forma en que abordan estos procesos. De hecho, existen factores subjetivos y culturales, además de las cuestiones de naturaleza económica, que pueden motivar o mitigar la participación de las empresas en I+D, This work was supported by the Spanish Ministry of Economy, Industry and Competitiveness under research project CSO2014-53293-R, and the Spanish Foundation for Science and Technology (FECYT) under research project FCT-16-10889, Peer reviewed

Este artículo está sujeto a una licencia CC BY 4.0, This research considers the hypothesis that firms’ propensity to undertake innovation activities is linked to variables related to their perception of science, their appraisal of the benefits and risks of R&D investing, and their attitude towards the role science plays within the firm, besides their economic and structural characteristics. We explore an empirical approach to studying the implications of managers’ perceptions and attitudes towards science and R&D on firms’ engagement in innovation. Research is based on the survey ‘Scientific culture, perception and attitudes towards science and innovation in the business sector’. Results evidence that corporate innovation decisions are not just a matter of money, and confirms the combined effect of a firm’s economic characteristics and perception of science on innovation engagement. Results confirm that managers’ attitude towards science and R&D is related to firms’ commitment to innovation, suggesting that their attitudes and behaviour in relation to science and investment in R&D should be given a more prominent role in S&T and innovation studies and in developing models of innovation in the future. This study provides some important implications for the management of innovation in the business sector. It stresses that innovation is related with managers having a perception of science and R&D that paves the way for the allocation of a firm’s resources to activities oriented towards knowledge generation and innovation. The results obtained here are still important regarding the way to address possible initiatives aimed at encouraging innovation in the business sector, This work was supported by the Spanish Ministry of Economy, Industry and Competitiveness (research project CSO2014-53293-R) and the Spanish Foundation for Science and Technology, FECYT (research project FCT-16-10889), No