Abstract
Organizational culture is an important factor in increasing innovativeness. My objective is to assess whether all or only certain cultural dimensions influence organizational innovativeness positively and, if so, which aspects are most influential. Implementing innovative ideas means change. I argue that companies can only successfully implement innovations if their employees are open to change as demonstrated by a certain readiness. Therefore, I hypothesize that readiness for change mediates the relationship between organizational culture and innovativeness. For this purpose, I analyzed a dataset from 2021 with approximately 33,000 participants from six industries in Germany. The results of a structural equation model show that three of the five cultural dimensions, namely team cohesion, leadership behavior, and an employer’s caring attitude, significantly and positively influence a company’s innovativeness (as assessed by HR managers). Moreover, the model indicates that change readiness (fully or partially) mediates the relationship between these cultural dimensions and innovativeness. The limitations of this study mainly relate to the sample and the methodological procedures used. In addition, I discuss the reasons for the insignificant relationship between the other two cultural dimensions, fairness and compensation, and innovativeness. This study confirms previous research on culture and innovativeness and shows that an employer’s caring attitude, a team atmosphere, and leadership behavior are particularly important in this context. Future research could verify these findings in other countries and with other measurement tools.
Presenters
Susann DungerResearch Associate and PhD Candidate, Research Group Knowledge Management, Human Resources and Leadership, University of Marburg, Germany
Details
Presentation Type
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session
Theme
The Value of Culture and the Demand of Change
KEYWORDS
Organizational Culture, Readiness for Change, Innovativeness
