Maaja Vadi

How does culture contribute to innovation? Evidence from European countries

Culture is deemed to be a crucial basis for innovation in various respects. The aim of this paper is to explore the relationships between different cultural dimensions introduced by G. Hofstede (2001, Cultures consequences: Comparing values, behaviors, insititutions, and organizations across nations, 2nd ed., Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage) and the capability of initiating innovation measured by the number of patent applications using the sample of European countries at the regional level. As a novel approach, instead of using Hofstedes original index scores, the measures for the cultural dimensions are based on the European Social Survey. We have learned that to be successful in patenting, a region should have power distance, uncertainty avoidance, family-related collectivism (as opposed to friend-related and organisation-related collectivism), and lower than average masculinity. In addition, the negative relationships between these cultural dimensions and patenting are stronger when there is a higher patenting intensity. However, culture alone does not serve as a guarantee for a high level of patenting intensity.

The impact of organisational culture on organisational learning and attitudes concerning change from an institutional perspective

Empirical research in 44 Estonian organisations has indicated the impact of institutional environments on how orientations of organisational culture influence oranisational learning and employee attitudes toward change. Aspects of organisational culture influencing organisational change - task orientation and relationship orientation - have a different impact on the formation of attitudes toward change and organisational learning depending on the level of institutional development at the time that people commenced their working life. The authors propose a model for highlighting the impact of aspects of organisational culture on organisational learning and attitudes toward change in the institutional context.

A measurement tool for the evaluation of organizational leadership capability

Purpose – Collective concepts of leadership open up some essential aspects of organizational leadership that could be defined as the collective ability of leadership to detect and cope with changes in the external environment by maintaining the primary goals of the organization. The purpose of this paper is to design a tool to evaluate organizational leadership capability.Design/methodology/approach – A total of 445 respondents from six Estonian organizations participated by completing a questionnaire about organizational leadership. Next, a quantitative analysis is performed and sets of factors obtained from a partial least squares regression and Cronbach alpha test. Finally, the pattern of individual items (statements) within each of the factors is identified and the results, which indicate organizational leadership capability, are plotted.Findings – During the last two decades, leadership on the collective level has come under greater focus. This has arisen from the necessity to transfer leadership cap...

European Social Survey as a source of new cultural dimensions estimates for regions

This article draws attention to the European Social Survey (ESS) database that widens the horizon of cross-cultural studies. The ESS has the potential to overcome several weaknesses of earlier data sets used for cross-cultural analysis – it provides unique opportunities for the analysis of differences between regions within nation states, and the data are representative of entire populations. We aim to develop a measurement tool of cultural dimensions based on the ESS that enables a deeper comparison of European regions besides country-level analysis. For creating ESS-based indicators, the initial indicators were selected based on Hofstede (2001), using the double classification method. Latent variables of cultural dimensions were computed using confirmative factor analysis. The results enable us to evaluate cross-cultural differences between regions inside the nation state as well as to figure out culturally close regions across nation state borders. The results of our analysis confirm that countries may be much more heterogeneous in terms of cultural variation than several cultural studies presume. Cultural heterogeneity varies across countries, and there are some quite homogeneous countries in the meaning of cultural dimensions, but most countries face cultural differences between its regions that have to be taken into account. It is also very important that the deeper the subdivision, the larger the differences. In some cases, border regions are remarkably less similar to the rest of the regions of the country than to the neighbouring regions of another country with a common border. In the case of countries with high cultural homogeneity, the use of nation-level cultural indicators may be justified, but in the case of highly heterogeneous countries a regional approach could be suggested instead.

Organizational culture and CSR: an exploratory study of Estonian service organizations

Purpose - This paper sets out to investigate the effect of organizational culture on corporate social responsibility (CSR) in service companies in Estonia. CSR is defined here as a concept whereby companies integrate social and environmental concerns in their business operations and in their interaction with their stakeholders on a voluntary basis. Design/methodology/approach - In order to develop hypotheses, studies that relate culture at the organizational and societal level and social responsibility were analyzed, leading the authors to the hypotheses that the more extensively an organization engaged in CSR activities, the less likely would task-orientation exceed relationship-orientation in this organization, and second, organizational culture in general would be stronger. An empirical study was conducted in 17 service organizations operating in Estonia. It used task- and relationship-orientation as characteristics of organizational culture. These data were obtained from an Organizational Culture Questionnaire completed by the randomly selected employees of respective organizations. Organizational culture data were supplemented by data on CSR, provided by top managers or appropriate persons in all organizations as a response to a questionnaire. Findings - Results could not statistically confirm the hypothesis that strong organizational culture characterizes higher CSR performers, but results are inconclusive in this respect. On the other hand, there was no evidence that organizations with higher CSR are more relationship- than task-oriented; however, relationship orientation was more strongly correlated with most CSR elements. The specific nature of services in the light of this result is discussed. Originality/value - The current paper is the first attempt to systematically relate organizational culture with its CSR behavior. Based on literature review, the main contribution to the existing literature is the outlining of possible relationships between the two phenomena.

The employees' attitudes and their connections with the organisational culture in the process of change in the Estonian organisations

Purpose – Estonian companies have been in a continuous state of change for the past 15 years, and there is still a lot to be done to achieve welfare levels comparable with developed countries in the European Union. The crucial question is how to achieve employee commitment to organisational change. The aim of this research is to highlight employee attitudes toward organisational change and how organisational culture can influence these attitudes in a rapidly changing environment.Design/methodology/approach – A model showing the connections between organisational culture and employee attitudes in the organisational change process has been developed as the theoretical conceptual frame for the study. The empirical study was conducted by the authors in 26 Estonian organisations with 412 respondents. A tool for measuring employee attitudes in the process of organisational change and a questionnaire for measuring organisational culture were developed by the authors.Findings – Under the conditions of economic tr...

Organizational culture based on the example of an Estonian hospital

PURPOSE The concept of organisational culture (also referred to later as OC) is one of the approaches in modern organisational analysis exploring the values, attitudes and beliefs behind human behaviour in the workplace. OC as a social phenomenon is considered to be important for the sustainability of every organisation. In the service sector, OC may affect the nature and quality of the services provided. The aim of this paper is twofold: on the one hand, to highlight the patterns of OC in a hospital; and, on the other hand, to outline relationships between OC and patient satisfaction. The study was conducted in Tartu University Hospital, one of the most influential health care organisations in Estonia. This paper has original value by presenting an insight into organisational culture in the Estonian health care sector, and the findings of the study will expand knowledge of OC in the health care sector in general. DESIGN/METHODOLOGY/APPROACH The OC instrument applied in a quantitative cross-sectional study was earlier developed according to the Competing Values Framework (CVF). Data from 456 medical and non-medical professionals were analysed using non-parametric tests of descriptive statistics. A factor analysis was performed to assess the instruments compatibility for analysing the OC pattern in the health care sector. FINDINGS The dominant culture type in all the groups investigated was the Internal Processes type, mainly followed by the Rational Goal type, while different cultural patterns were observed in professional groups. The factor analysis yielded a three-subscale solution. Clinics with high patient satisfaction did not score more than clinics with low patient satisfaction in terms of the Human Relations type. ORIGINALITY/VALUE In future studies a random sample design and a multidisciplinary approach to OC research should be followed in order to further explore OC patterns in hospitals and their consequences for different aspects of hospital performance.

The dual value of honesty among Russians in selected former Soviet countries

Purpose – The aim of this paper is to analyse the factors associated with the perception of the value honesty among Russian organisational members from selected former Soviet countries: Russia, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania.Design/methodology/approach – Using the Rokeach Value Survey, the respondents were asked to rank their own values and to speculate on how their co‐workers would rank the same values. The following analysis focused on the importance of honesty, its concurrence with speculations about co‐workers, the impact of other personal values and socio‐demographic characteristics.Findings – One of the most important findings of this study is that value honesty is amongst the most important values for Russians, while the importance of this value was not similar for Russians living in Russia and the Baltic States. Value consensus tells us the most about how important honesty is for the focal person. Results also reveal that other personal values, namely, family security, comfortable life, imaginative...

Behaviour patterns in Estonian enterprises from the perspective of the value chain

Purpose – The aim of this paper is to evaluate how Estonian enterprises understand their position in the value chain, and to explore what kind of behaviour patterns correspond to the different positions. It also aims to focus on the question of whether and how Estonian enterprises see the need to improve their position in the value chain.Design/methodology/approach – The approach is based on an empirical study in the course of which original interviews were conducted on the basis of a common plan (primary sources), and expert opinions were gathered on the basis of earlier studies. Two kinds of sources were analyzed to obtain an overview of the situation in Estonian companies in respect to strategy, and more specifically how companies evaluate their position in the value chain and what their aspirations for future are. First, the figureheads from the enterprises were interviewed in 14 enterprises. Second, expert assessments were drawn up about 25 enterprises. Those compiling the expert opinions possessed p...

The deposit of collectivism in organizational culture in Russia

Purpose – The aim of this paper is explore how organizational culture is influenced by collectivism in Russia and draw some recommendations from human resources perspective because Russia differs from most Western countries in several ways, one of the key ones being a much higher tendency to collectivism.Design/methodology/approach – The survey questionnaires were used in order to discover interrelations between characteristically collectivism and organizational culture. Organizational culture was turned into the task and relationship orientations approach and three levels of collectivism were distinguished. A total of 586 employees working for various organizations in Russia participated in this study.Findings – First, it was discovered that Russians hold collectivistic attitudes (familism and patriotism) showing correlation with both orientations (task and relationships) of organizational culture. The results show that familism is negatively correlated with task orientation, while Patriotism is positive...