Title: Does culture frame technological innovativeness? A study of millennials in triad countries

Authors: Andreas Klein; Sven Horak; Sabine Bacouël-Jentjens; Xiaomei Li

Addresses: Faculty of Health Care, Niederrhein University of Applied Sciences, Krefeld 47805, Germany ' The Peter J. Tobin College of Business, Department of Management, St. John's University, New York 11439, USA ' ISC Paris Business School, Paris 75017, France ' College of Management and Economics, Tianjin University, Tianjin 300072, China

Abstract: Personal innovativeness is an important value-based human behaviour that is responsible for the ability to participate in the domain of technological innovations and to enhance economic growth. Our study investigates the technological innovativeness of millennials in a cross-cultural setting at the individual level. The research design includes technological involvement and knowledge and an individual-level measurement of five well-known cultural values as antecedents of technological innovativeness. Findings from structural equation modelling of 1527 millennials from six triad countries confirm that technological involvement and knowledge positively affect personal innovativeness in the technology domain. Above all, from a theoretical perspective on culture, individual measures of power distance, uncertainty avoidance and long-term orientation especially have a significant negative effect on technological innovativeness. Hence, in an international business context, individual cultural values play an important role for companies seeking, for example, an overseas location for their research and development (R&D) facilities or skilled and innovative personnel to persist in attaining and sustaining international competition. From a theoretical perspective on international business, this study also sheds light on the individual-level measurement of cultural values, taking the individual as the unit of analysis.

Keywords: technological innovativeness; individual cultural values; value measurement; millennials; cross-cultural management; triad countries.

DOI: 10.1504/EJIM.2021.114622

European Journal of International Management, 2021 Vol.15 No.4, pp.564 - 594

Received: 08 Dec 2017
Accepted: 24 Jul 2018
Published online: 29 Apr 2021 *

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