Cultural integration with strategic decision-making process in determining innovation performance: Evidence from an Arab country setting

Abstract

This chapter presents an empirical study that examines the co-alignment between the Strategic Decision-Making Process (SDMP) and cultural contextual factors in developing a more completely specified model of innovation performance in a different setting from the Arab Middle East, namely Qatar. The key variables in this model consist of four strategic decision-making process dimensions (speed, degree of rationality, political behavior, and individual involvement), four culture attributes (locus of control, decision style, collectivistic orientation, and hierarchy), and innovation performance as an outcome variable in terms of process and product/service practice. The survey from 140 public and private organizations improves our understanding in three major issues: first, that SDM practices have a direct and more significant impact on process innovation performance than product/service innovation performance; second, that innovation performance is both process- and context-specific; and third, certain characteristics of the location support culture-specific awareness.