Innovative Culture, Product Program Innovativeness and Performance: An Empirical Study Based on the Contingency Theory

The environment where corporations survive becomes unpredictable and the competitive advantage of a corporate more and more relies on innovation. Cultivating innovative culture in a corporate is a vital measure in increasing innovation ability and performance. The contingency theory emphasizes that the survival and development of a firm should be in accordance with the trend, and firms should actively adjust products and technology or other productive elements and organizational structure to maintain competitive edge. In the perspective of the contingency theory, the internal mechanism of corporate innovative culture is dissected and the relationship between the innovative culture and product program innovativeness (PPI)as well as performance is analyzed. The results show that innovative value and norms indirectly, positively and significantly affect the PPI through the mediating effect of innovative cultural artifacts. Among the 3 layers of innovative culture, the innovative value positively affects innovative cultural artifacts through the mediating effect of innovative cultural norms. In addition, turbulences in marketing and technology have negative moderating effects on the relationship between innovative cultural artifacts and PPI. The results provide theoretical support and managerial suggestion for managers in terms of corporate cultural building.