National culture and innovation capability: some observations concerning Chinese‐Americans

Abstract

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to review the literature and discuss the relations between national culture, national subcultures and innovation based on three perspectives: divergence, convergence and crossvergence.Design/methodology/approachBased principally on previous studies in the “culture” and “culture and innovation” literature, this paper reviews two key sets of literature: first, the three perspectives of macro‐level cultural interaction are reviewed; second, the relationship between culture and innovation is reviewed. Hofstede's five dimensions of culture in the workplace are employed when discussing the impact of culture and innovation.FindingsThe outcome of the review suggests that the product of crossvergence (Chinese‐American culture in this case) has a high potential to be more innovative than one of the two interacting cultures (Chinese), but does not draw a conclusion regarding relative innovativeness between Chinese‐American and US culture. It is generally found that Western cultures tend to be more innovative than Eastern cultures.Research limitations/implicationsThis conceptual paper has implications for business strategy but does not present fresh empirical data to support its propositions.Practical implicationsIn today's highly competitive and highly complex global environment, innovation is a key success factor in organizations worldwide. The search for talented and innovative employees should not be limited to domestic sources alone. The talent pool of Chinese‐Americans and others from multicultural backgrounds should be tapped. Ethnocentric viewpoints are outdated.Originality/valueThe value of this paper is its exploration of the impacts of the crossvergence of cultures on innovation.