Intercultural aspects of innovation management on example of innovation adoption in Eastern European countries

Objectives The study aims to examine the relationships between the different national culture dimensions presented by Hofstede and innovation data by selected Eastern European countries to analyze which characteristics of national culture dimensions contribute to the improved innovation adoption. Material and methods In order to analyze the proposed relationship between national culture dimensions and innovation the secondary data have been used. The independent variables for this study are Hofstede’s cultural dimensions. The scores for each of the five dimensions have been used in the model. The Global Innovation index from 2021 was used as the dependent variable for this study. Multiple regressions were used to identify the relationship between the independent variables (Hofstede’s culture dimensions) and dependent variable -The Global Innovation index. Results Higher values of long term orientation, individualism and uncertainly avoidance have a positive impact on innovation. On the other hand, the proposed relationship between power distance and innovation as well as masculinity and innovation were not confirmed and require further research. Conclusions The study has achieved a part of its main research goal in proving that the proposed relationships between some national culture dimensions and innovation hold true for Eastern Europe countries. In addition, the study has also opened some new questions regarding the relationship between masculinity and power distance and their influence on innovation adoption that require further research. One of the propositions for future research would be to enlarge the number of national cultures taken into the sample and try analyzing different clusters of national cultures.