Organizational Innovative Culture，the Strength of Culture and Employee Innovative Behavior：A Multilevel Analysis

CHEN Wei-Qi

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Journal of Psychological Science ›› 2013, Vol. 36 ›› Issue (5) : 1187-1193.

Organizational Innovative Culture，the Strength of Culture and Employee Innovative Behavior：A Multilevel Analysis

Wei-Qi CHEN¹,²

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Abstract

Numerous studies have been done to explore the direct relationships between organizational culture and individual innovative behavior, but little attention has been paid to the role of the cultural strength. We attempt to fill these voids by examining the joint effects of organizational innovative culture (content), and the strength of organizational culture, as well as their interactive effects, on employee innovative behavior. The main theses of the study are that (a) all these organizational cultural attributions are related to employee innovative behavior in their own unique way, and (b) the strength of organizational culture moderates the effect of organizational innovative culture. 10,856 employees from 156 operating divisions of a large state-owned power grid company were surveyed. The sample size of each division is no less than 15 subjects, with a mean of 69.6. The subjects reported their perceptions of the organizational supportiveness to innovation and their own innovative behavior on Likert-5 scales. Indexes of the profile similarity between employees’ values and organizational values (PSIs) were calculated to represent the value congruence between person and organization, and then averaged within each operating division to represent the cultural strength. The employees' perceptions of innovative culture were also aggregated to the organization (division) level for multi-level analyses purpose. ICC(1), ICC(2), and RWG had been calculated to justify the aggregation. Hierarchical Linear Models (HLM) analyses indicate that organizational innovative culture fosters and facilitates employee innovative behavior, while the strength of organizational culture hinders employee innovation. Results also indicate that strong culture can strengthen the positive effects of organizational innovative culture. The results of the present study suggest that not only the content but also the strength of the organizational culture are crucial for employee innovation. We argue that a more sophisticated model should be adopted to understand the roles of organizational culture. Regarding the strength of the culture can elaborate the understanding of the relationship between organizational culture and individual innovative behavior. More attentions should be paid to the direct, linear effect, as well as the moderating effect of organizational culture on employees’ outcomes.

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organizational innovative culture / the strength of organizational culture / employee innovative behavior / hierarchical linear model

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Wei-Qi CHEN. Organizational Innovative Culture，the Strength of Culture and Employee Innovative Behavior：A Multilevel Analysis[J]. Journal of Psychological Science. 2013, 36(5): 1187-1193

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