How Can Cultural Values and Entrepreneurship Lead to the Consideration of Innovation-Oriented or Non-Innovation-Oriented Countries?

Abstract

This study provides an analysis of the existing relationship between culture, entrepreneurship, and orientation towards innovation at the national level. Drawing on the creation of an Artificial Neural Network, and using a sample of 37 countries, this paper aims to catalogue each country as innovation-oriented or non-innovation-oriented considering the six cultural dimensions proposed by Hofstede’s model and the country´s entrepreneurial activity. The results achieved suggest that three of the cultural dimensions—long-term orientation, individualism, and indulgence—are positively associated with the consideration of a country as innovation-oriented, but one of them—uncertainty avoidance—is associated with the consideration of a country as non-innovation-oriented. On the other hand, while power distance and masculinity do not seem to be significant variables in this analysis, the entrepreneurial activity rate is associated with countries classified as non-innovation-oriented. This study aims to shed light on the relationships between cultural values, entrepreneurship, and orientation towards innovation, providing valuable information for stakeholders, mainly those belonging to private sector and governments, when designing strategies aimed at creating favourable environments for the development of a country’s technology, research, and innovation.