Vladyslav Soloviov

University of Tartu,

Tartu, Estonia

E-mail: vladyslav.soloviov@ut.ee 

ORCID 0000-0002-4642-7742

Re-examining the links between cultural values and innovation

Abstract. The fact that the majority of the papers investigating the link between culture and innovation use Hofstede’s cultural theory and indicators prompts a question of whether the alternative cultural theories and variables can provide us with a better understanding of this link. This issue is further necessitated by the strong criticism of the validity of Hofstede’s cultural dimensions throughout their use. This study investigates the link between culture and innovation using four separate sets of cultural indicators: Hofstede’s, Schwartz’s, Inglehart’s and Minkov’s. The results of the empirical analysis highlight that individualism-collectivism unambiguously emerges as significantly linked with innovative activity regardless of the cultural theory utilised. Additionally, compared to Hofstede’s, all alternative sets of cultural indicators provide a better model fit, avoid some of the long-standing multicollinearity problems, and provide a more grounded theoretical foundation, complete with a better replicability of such variables.

Received: September, 2021

1st Revision: April, 2022

Accepted: May, 2022

DOI: 10.14254/2071-789X.2022/15-2/3

JEL Classification: A12, O30, Z13

Keywords: cultural dimensions, innovation, value orientations, Hofstede, individualism