•We analyzed the persistency in innovation behavior of firms, using a panel of Community Innovation Survey in Sweden, which spans over a decade.•We distinguish between product, process, organizational, and marketing innovations.•There is a variation in the degree of persistency among the four types of innovation.•Product Innovation shows the strongest persistency among all four types of innovation.•Marketing Innovation shows the least persistency. This paper analyzes the persistency in innovation behavior of firms. Using five waves of the Community Innovation Survey in Sweden, we have traced the innovative behavior of firms over a ten-year period, i.e., between 2002 and 2012. We distinguish between four types of innovations: process, product, marketing, and organizational innovations. First, using transition probability matrix, we found evidence of (unconditional) state dependence in all types of innovation, with product innovators having the strongest persistent behavior. Second, using a dynamic probit model, we found evidence of “true” state dependency among all types of innovations, except marketing innovators. Once again, the strongest persistency was found for product innovators.