Individualism and the Modern Corporation: Implications for Innovation and Entrepreneurship

Abstract

The extent to which entrepreneurship in establishedfirms is the result of a more individualistic versus collectivistic culture is explored. Hypotheses are tested in which it is proposed that a curvilinear relationship exists between individualism-collectivism and corporate entrepreneurship. Findings are reported from a survey completed separatelv by three functional area managers in each of eighty-four industrial firms.The results support the hypotheses, such that entrepreneurship is highest under conditions of balanced individualism-collectivism, and declines in highly individualistic and more collectivistic environments.

Unlocking the relationship between corporate entrepreneurship and performance

“…Thus, researchers have long recognized that the cultural values of the broader society in which an organization operates, may have fundamental impacts on its culture [41]. Consequently, albeit usually examined at the societal or individual level, these so-called societal dimensions can also be explored at the organizational level [25,26,41,70,99] and in the entrepreneurial context [63]. This study does the same and uses societal cultural dimensions in assessing organizational culture phenomenon.…”

“…Defined as the strength of social norms and the degree of sanctioning within societies, cultural TL, has been neglected both in terms of societal and organizational culture [89]. Ind-col dimension was assessed through 14 items gathered from [11,24,63,70,99,108]. PD was assessed mainly through seven items from [78].…”

Formal institutions, informal institutions, and red tape: A comparative study

“…Licht and Siegel () suggest that entrepreneurs’ job satisfaction largely depends on levels of perceived independence and autonomy. Similarly, Morris et al () note that individual autonomy encourages perseverance needed to pursue business and entrepreneurial activities. Since government rules and regulations generally limit freedom of action, independence, and autonomy, it is likely that—notwithstanding the fact that many of these rules are effective and meet valid objectives—external rules are more quickly perceived as red tape in countries that are more individualistic in nature.…”

An Exploratory Study of the Export Intention of Firms

“…Deshpande and Webster (1987) define organizational culture as "the pattern of shared values and beliefs that help give the members of an organization meaning, and provide them with the rules for behavior in the organization" (p. 2). Organizational culture is characterized as a set of values, beliefs, norms, habits, and symbols according to which the members of an organization operate (Hofstede, 1980;Morris, Avila and Allen, 1993). The link between organizational culture, strategy aiid performance is well known in the literature (e.g., Barley, 1986;Deshpande and Webster, 1987;Kotter and Heskett, 1992;Siehl and Martin, 1990).…”