The Effect of Cultural Orientations on Country Innovation Performance: Hofstede Cultural Dimensions Revisited?

Abstract

Purpose. One of the perspectives that receives the most attention from studies in international business is cultural dimensions. This is due to the greater complexity and incidence of cultural aspects in economic performance. This paper explored the moderation effect of cultural orientations on the creation of innovation trajectories related to levels of innovation and their outcomes in countries from various geographical areas between 2011 and 2021. Design/Methodology/Approach. A growth trajectories model is conducted to achieve the research’s aim, considering the country’s cultural orientation, innovation inputs (institutions, human capital and research, infrastructure, market sophistication, and business sophistication), and impact on innovation output. The Global Innovation Index, Globe Project, and Global Entrepreneurship Index databases used this analysis, containing data from nations on different continents. The trajectories’ analysis approach is utilized to achieve the desired goal, which allows for the assessment of the variations in innovation trajectory across countries with cultural tendencies towards performance and humane orientation from 2011 to 2021. Findings. The literature affirms positive results for various innovation inputs, but the results show differences in innovation outputs. The difference is related to their inputs (institutions, human capital and research, infrastructure, market sophistication, business sophistication), institutions, and market sophistication. Additionally, a difference depends on the country’s performance culture, generating options to obtain higher outputs, such as knowledge and creative results. Research Limitations/Implications. Based on the results achieved, an attempt is made to provide a different perspective on innovation, especially evaluating the results over time and identifying decreasing trajectories that affect the innovation results in countries with different economic development conditions and cultural characteristics. Practical Implications. The results achieved make it possible to strengthen the analysis of the countries’ strategies regarding innovation, especially in the permanent evaluation of the results, which encourages changes in the execution of innovative activities to maintain their performance over time. Social Implications. The contributions allow us to understand the dynamics of innovation in countries’ knowledge and creative outputs over time. Originality/Value. The trajectory analysis used in the data analysis is perhaps one of the most robust techniques for a time series analysis. This allows for identifying trajectories for the study’s independent variables and their influence on a country’s innovation.