ABSTRACT

Advances in Information and Communication Technology (ICT) and the distributed nature of innovation in a culturally heterogeneous world raise an important question about how ICT and culture jointly influence innovation. We argue that ICT shapes the influence of culture dimensions on national innovation in nuanced ways, depending on the nature of the dimensions. In particular, cultural dimensions that pertain to norms, formality, and structure (e.g., power distance and uncertainty avoidance) are often considered detrimental to innovation, whereas culture dimensions that pertain to the pursuit of goals and achievement (e.g., individualism, masculinity, and long-term orientation) are often considered conducive for innovation. We hypothesize that ICT amplifies the positive effects of individualism, masculinity, and long-term orientation on national innovation—and, attenuates the negative effects of power distance and uncertainty avoidance on national innovation. Our analyses of data on 66 countries from 2007 to 2015 broadly support our hypotheses about ICT amplifying the positive effects of individualism and long-term orientation, as well as our hypotheses about ICT attenuating the negative effects of power distance and uncertainty avoidance on national innovation. The findings suggest that ICT amplifies the effects of culture dimensions related to the pursuit of goals and helps overcome barriers to innovation that arise from a culture’s focus on norms, formality, and structure. In turn, these findings can help managers and policy makers to make judicious decisions regarding ICT investments to transcend or leverage the country’s cultural characteristics for innovation.

摘要

信息和通信技术（ICT）的进步以及文化异质世界中创新的分布式性质，引发了一个重要问题，即ICT和文化如何共同影响创新。我们认为，信息通信技术以细微的方式影响文化维度对国家创新的影响，具体取决于维度的性质。特别是，与规范，形式和结构有关的文化维度（例如，权力距离和避免不确定性）通常被认为不利于创新，而与追求目标和成就有关的文化维度（例如，个人主义，男子气概和长期定位）通常被认为有利于创新。我们假设ICT放大了个人主义，阳刚之气，以及对国家创新的长期定位，并减轻了权力距离和不确定性规避对国家创新的负面影响。我们对2007年至2015年的66个国家/地区的数据进行的分析广泛支持了我们的有关ICT放大个人主义和长期取向的积极影响的假设，以及有关ICT减轻权力距离和避免不确定性对国家创新的负面影响的假设。研究结果表明，ICT扩大了与追求目标相关的文化维度的影响，并有助于克服因文化对规范，形式和结构的关注而产生的创新障碍。反过来，