The Influence of National Culture on the Adoption Status of Innovations:: An Empirical Study of Firms Across Europe

Abstract

Firms, like consumers, differ in their likelihood and speed to adopt innovations, i.e. new products, systems or services. Differences in adoption status are generally explained by scholars based on (i) particular characteristics of the firm and of the new products (micro factors) and (ii) the type of industry the firms are in (meso factors). This study adds to the literature by investigating if national culture (a macro factor) adds to the explanation of differences in adoption status for firms operating in different countries. A large-scale empirical study was carried out in 10 European countries concerning the adoption of Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) software by medium-sized companies. Key finding is that variables describing national cultural highly significantly explain variance in adoption decisions in addition to the traditional micro and meso variables. These findings support the proposition that cultural differences between countries, even within the EU, are still so large that they impact the likelihood of adoption by companies operating in different countries. The findings have important implications for business-to-business companies expanding in foreign countries with new products and services.