National culture dimensions as predictors of innovation, creativity, and entrepreneurship

Abstract

The purposes of this study were twofold. The first was to encourage other investigators to examine more closely three indices related to economic growth, specifically innovation, entrepreneurship, and creativity. The second was to encourage further investigation of Hofstede’s national culture as explanatory variables. This investigation addressed this research gap by examining the relationships among indices of nations’ creativity, entrepreneurship, and innovation, and their relationships with Hofstede’s (2015) national culture dimensions. No previous research was identified which examined countries’ creativity, entrepreneurship, and innovation in the same study. The relationships among four measures associated with economic development—the Global Innovation Index (GII), the Global Entrepreneurship Index (GEI), the Global Creativity Index (GCI), and Bloomberg 50 most innovative countries (B50) were studied. Two rarely investigated indices (B50 and GCI) were included in this research. Results indicated that all four indices were highly correlated. The factor structure of Hofstede’s six cultural dimensions was reduced to three major factors: heteronomy-autonomy, gratification, and competition-altruism. Using multiple regression analysis, heteronomy-autonomy and gratification predicted GII. Gratification predicted the remaining three criteria. This study addressed this research gap of criterion development by examining the relationships among these variables, their relationships with national culture, and their predictability from different national culture dimensions. Practical implications of these findings for decision-makers and policymakers who want to increase their country’s economic growth through the support of creativity, innovation, and entrepreneurship were discussed.