EXPLORING THE MODERATING ROLE OF NATIONAL CULTURE ON THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN ISO 9001 AND ORGANIZATIONAL INNOVATIVENESS

Abstract

This paper aims to explore the moderating role of national culture on the understudied relationship between ISO 9001 and organizational innovativeness. To achieve the goals of this paper the moderating role of power distance, individualism vs. collectivism and uncertainty avoidance on the relationship between ISO 9001 internalization and organizational innovativeness was analyzed using moderated multiple regression in two hundred and fourty seven ISO 9001 certified small and medium enterprises (SMEs) from four European countries (Austria, Croatia, Italy and Romania). Power distance and individualism vs. collectivism were not significant in the model, while uncertainty avoidance had a negative moderating effect. The study findings are promising and future research should broaden the research by including more organizations and countries in the research sample. The analysis of the effect other institutional factors have on the relationships proposed in this research is another possible avenue for future research