TOP MANAGEMENT INFLUENCE ON INNOVATIONS - EFFECTS OF EXECUTIVE CHARACTERISTICS AND SOCIAL CULTURE

Innovation is a growing source of strategic advantage across a variety of industrialized cultures. Top managers often seek to influence or c hampion strategic innovations. This study examined the extent to which executive characteristics explains top management influence on produc t/market (PM) and administrative (ADM) innovations in four Western cul tures. The results support the proposition that different executive ch aracteristics explain influence on each type of innovation. The influe nce process differed across cultures for ADM but not for PM innovation s. The implications of this study for practice and research are discus sed.