ALTERNATIVE ROUTES TO INNOVATION — THE EFFECTS OF CULTURAL AND STRUCTURAL FIT

Dag Ingvar Jacobsen (), Tore Hillestad, Birgitte Yttri and Jarle Hildrum
Additional contact information
Dag Ingvar Jacobsen: Agder University, Servicebox 422, 4604 Kristiansand, Norway
Tore Hillestad: NHH Norwegian School of Economics, Norway
Birgitte Yttri: Telenor Norway, Norway
Jarle Hildrum: Telenor Norway, Norway

International Journal of Innovation Management (ijim), 2019, vol. 24, issue 01, 1-20

Abstract: A configurational approach to organizations assumes that structural and cultural characteristics must be in “fit” to produce the wanted outcome. With a focus on innovation, this study examines empirically to what extent innovative activities with a large, global telecom company are produced by an innovative culture, an innovative structure, as well as the fit between the two. Based on an extensive survey (N = 21064, response rate = 65) of employees in seven countries in Europe and Asia, data was aggregated to unit level as culture by nature is a collective phenomenon. The empirical analysis detected both the individual effects of culture strength and homogeneity, structure, as well as the fit between the two. The results indicate that an innovative culture and an organic structure indeed fosters innovation, but that, somewhat surprisingly, there are not effects of the fit between the two. Both practical and theoretical implications are discussed.

Keywords: Innovation; organizational culture; organizational structure; configuration; fit; global telecom company (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2019
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.worldscientific.com/doi/abs/10.1142/S1363919620500061
Access to full text is restricted to subscribers

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:wsi:ijimxx:v:24:y:2019:i:01:n:s1363919620500061

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from

DOI: 10.1142/S1363919620500061

Access Statistics for this article

International Journal of Innovation Management (ijim) is currently edited by Joe Tidd

More articles in International Journal of Innovation Management (ijim) from World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd.
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Tai Tone Lim ().