ORGANIZATIONAL VALUES FOR PRODUCT INNOVATIONS IN MANUFACTURING COMPANIES

The purpose of this paper is to show the impact of organizational values on product innovation in manufacturing companies on the basis of former literature insights and empirical evidence from 81 Austrian and German companies. The first section includes the results of an in-depth content analysis of relevant articles revealing a grouping of the twelve most frequently expressed value themes for necessary innovations. Further, the paper contains empirical results from a survey among 81 managers of Austrian and German manufacturing companies. The paper shows the correlational dependencies of product innovation outcomes on organizational values and analyses perceptions of practitioners on the topic. Further, a condensed value profile necessary for product innovations consisting of trust, performance, pioneering spirit, and market-driven debate and discussion is suggested. Most of all, the paper reveals that manufacturing companies in the sample lack a fit between what they find important for innovation and what they judge their companies to be characteristic of today. With that, the paper holds recommendations for managers to enhance the innovation capability of their companies and addresses various future fields of research for scholars and scientists.