The effects of organizational culture and commitment on employee innovation: evidence from Vietnam’s IT industry
| Date | 07 October 2019 |
| Pages | 719-742 |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/JABS-09-2018-0253 |
| Published date | 07 October 2019 |
| Author | Vinh The Nguyen,Sununta Siengthai,Fredric Swierczek,Umesh Kumar Bamel |
| Subject Matter | Strategy,International business |
The effects of organizational culture and
commitment on employee innovation:
evidence from Vietnam’s IT industry
Vinh The Nguyen, Sununta Siengthai, Fredric Swierczek and Umesh Kumar Bamel
Abstract
Purpose –This paper aims to analyze the relationship between organizational culture (measured by
mission, involvement, consistency, adaptability and well-being), employee organizational commitment
and employeeinnovation in the Vietnamese ITindustry.
Design/methodology/approach –This is a quantitative researchusing perceptual scale questionnaire
survey developed based on the literature review and in-depth expert interviews. A total of 319 IT
professionals working in Vietnam participated in the survey. The data were analyzed using multiple
regressionanalysis.
Findings –The results suggest that overall organizational culture and organizational commitment are
positively and significantly related to employee innovation. A closer look reveals that out of the
organizational culture’sfive dimensions, mission, adaptability and well-being are foundspecifically and
significantlyrelated to employee innovation.
Research limitations/implications –The study used a cross-sectional survey where case studies of
longitudinal study may add more insight. Further, the Denison organizational culture survey instrument
might be subjective. Finally,there may be also some moderating or mediating effects that are not taken
into accountin this study.
Practical implications –The enhancement of adaptability, well-being, mission and commitment can
increaseemployee innovation in the IT industry.
Originality/value –This paper contributes to the literature and practice by demonstrating the
relationship between corporate culture and organizational commitment on employee innovation in a
developingcountry (i.e. Vietnam).
Keywords Vietnam, Innovation, Organizational commitment, Well-being, Organizational culture,
IT industry, Employee innovation
Paper type Research paper
Introduction
Innovation has recently attracted much attention, especially in the IT industry in a
developing country context. Employee innovation (EI) has been identified as a key driver of
firm competitiveness and success of any organization (France and Carney, 2002;Lukes
and Stephan, 2017). There is an increasing interest in understanding and identifying the
antecedents of EI (Shanker et al., 2017). Numerous researches have substantiated the
relationship between EI and performance at the individual as well as unit level (Hughes
et al., 2018;Janssen, 2000). In the current unpredictable and dynamic business
environment, organizations need to be adaptive and innovative (Janssen and Yperen,
2004). France and Carney (2002) asserted that a firm’s failure to innovate may impede firm
competitiveness and firm sustainability. The relevant literature reveals several factors that
promote EI (Janssen, 2000). EI is thus a well-studied construct. Its antecedents can be
grouped into the individual(i.e. personality, mood and connectivity, etc.) andkey aspects of
Vinh The Nguyen,
Sununta Siengthai and
Fredric Swierczek are all
based at the SOM, Asian
Institute of Technology,
Bangkok, Thailand.
Umesh Kumar Bamel is
based at the Indian Institute
of Management Amritsar,
Amritsar, India.
Received 12 September 2018
Revised 30 March 2019
Accepted 2 August 2019
DOI 10.1108/JABS-09-2018-0253 VOL. 13 NO. 4 2019, pp. 719-742, ©Emerald Publishing Limited, ISSN 1558-7894 jJOURNAL OF ASIA BUSINESS STUDIES jPAGE 719
working environmental factors (i.e. fair pay, leadership, organizational climate, etc.) (Jong
and Hartog, 2010;Anderson et al.,2014;Shanker et al.,2017). Organizational leaders,
people, organizational climate, structure and culture enhance innovation (France and
Carney, 2002).
Information technology continues to move our society forward; and the IT industry plays a
vital role in the growth of economies. IT sector leads to productivity improvement of the
whole economy (Sturgeon and Zylberberg, 2016). The development of IT applications has
strongly influenced all economic sectors. For example, it brings greater opportunities for
economies of scale, permits the more flexible manufacturing, expedites the
internationalization of markets, provides higher level of ability and adaptability in financial
flows and so on (Kenaroðlu, 2015).
IT workforce includes software developers and engineers, system analysts,
programmers, database specialists or network managers, who add value to any
organization. Their contributions are indispensable (Mildon and Kleiner, 1999). About
1.2 m IT professionals are required in 2020 in Vietnam (MIC (Ministry of Information and
Communications), 2017). However, there have been high employee turnover rates in
the country, consisting of 16.2 per cent of IT employee turnover (Vietnamworks, 2017).
About 74 per cent in 2017 and 60.2 per cent in 2018 of IT employees intended to move
out of their current jobs (Vietnamworks,2017, 2019). The shortage and the high
turnover rates of IT professionals highlight the importance to examine IT professionals’
perception and organizational commitment.
According to the Global Innovation Index (GII (Global Innovation Index), 2017), Vietnam
is ranked below average in the innovation index, i.e. 47/127. Only about 6 per cent of
Vietnamese firms were engaged in innovation-related co-operation with an external
partner, and only about 1 per cent collaborated with research institutes and universities
(Vietnam News, 2014). Innovation policies and programs in developing countries are
segregated and ineffectively developed (Aubert, 2005). The Fourth Industrial
Revolution (4.0) demands IT sector to adapt and change. Organizations thus face
intense pressure to innovate continuously (Baller et al., 2016). Currently, in Vietnam,
research on innovation is limited, especially at the individual and enterprise levels (Duy
and Tuan, 2013;Duy, 2015;Linh and Hien, 2017;Tran et al., 2017;Nam et al., 2017).
About 53 per cent of employees were under-creative, and most of the corporations do
not evaluate employees’ innovative capacities (Phung, 2013). With local businesses in
Vietnam gaining global acceptance, a management approach that is more professional
is required.
Despite the considerable increase in empirical studies to identify the sources of EI and
understanding about the role of these key drivers in promoting EI, some important questions
regarding the role of certain aspects of the organizational environment and individual-l evel
variables remained unanswered. Organizational culture is an important aspect of the work
environment (Chatterjee et al.,2018). Yet, the relationship between organization al culture and
EI in Asia and in a developing country context such as Vietnam is not well researched.
The objective of this research is thus to examine the relationship between organizational
culture, employee organizational commitment and EI in the IT Industry in Vietnam. This
study aims to contribute to our understandingof the complexity and dynamics of innovation
in Asia at the micro level which complements macro-level studies (Fruin, 2012). In the
Vietnam context, it attempts to investigate two research questions as follows:
RQ1. Whether and how much organizational culture (with its sub-dimensions: mission,
involvement,consistency, adaptability and well-being) influence EI?
RQ2. To what extent does employee organizational commitment influence EI in the IT
industry?
PAGE 720 jJOURNAL OF ASIA BUSINESS STUDIES jVOL. 13 NO. 4 2019
To continue reading
Request your trial