The role of generational diversity in innovation-supportive organizational culture's influence on innovation competence : An example from Adana province manufacturing industry

Toward achieving success and ensuring competitive advantage in today's global competition environment of rapid changes, businesses are required to extensively study and be knowledgeable with the influential concepts of organizational life and the inter-relation of these concepts. Among these concepts, "Innovation Competence" and "Innovation-supportive Organizational Culture" rose in importance as of the beginning of the century, by virtue of their role in organizational performance. The multi-generational human resource texture of today's corporations requires yet another concept to be taken into consideration in terms of organizational success: "Generations". Individuals from different generations have different lifestyles, mindsets, attitude and behavior, perception and judgements. All these dissimilarities are apt to play a part in numerous realities and relations in an organization. In this respect, the influence of innovation-supportive organizational culture on innovation competence and the actual role of generational diversity in this influence are examined in the scope of this study. Designed as a correlational survey model, this study features survey method as data collection technique. Organizational Culture Scale, developed by Aksel (2010) and Innovation Competence Scale, developed by Vila & Kuster (2007) were applied. The data was collected from the employees of Adana Province-based manufacture companies with an R&D Department (n=273). Data analysis led to the discovery of statistically meaningful relations. Separate correlation analyses conducted for different generations revealed that there is a meaningful and positive linear relation between innovation-supportive organizational culture and innovation competence (r=0,402; p<0,01) for Generation X (n=157) and there is a meaningful and positive linear relation between innovation-supportive organizational culture and innovation competence (r=0,550; p<0,01) for Generation Y (n=116). Regression analysis results revealed that in an organization of X Generation employees, 15% of the innovation competence perception (R²= 0,157, p<0,05); 25% of product innovation competence perception variability, and 15% of process innovation competence perception variability is explained by innovation-supportive organizational culture perception. Moreover, 26% of strategy innovation competence perception variability and 18% of marketing innovation competence perception variability is explained by innovation-supportive organizational culture perception in an organization of X Generation employees. On the other hand, in an organization of Y Generation employees, 29% of the innovation competence perception (R²= 0,296, p<0,05); 9% of product innovation competence perception variability, and 35% of process innovation competence perception variability is explained by innovation-supportive organizational culture perception. In an organization of Y Generation employees, 12% of strategy innovation competence perception variability and 19% of marketing innovation competence perception variability is explained by innovation-supportive organizational culture perception. Multiple regression model was conducted to test the influence of generational diversity on the perception of innovation-supportive organizational culture's impact on the perception of innovation competence. In addition, it is found that Y Generation employees explain 30% of the variability on innovation competence while X Generation employees explain 16% of the same variability. Generation Y employees explain 10% of the variability on product innovation competence perception while Generation X employees explain 3% of the variability on product innovation competence perception. Generation Y employees explain 36% of process innovation competence perception variability while Generation X employees explain 15% of process innovation competence perception variability. Generation Y employees were found to explain 12% of strategy innovation competence perception variability while Generation X employees explain 3% of strategy innovation competence perception variability. Generation Y Employees explain 20% of marketing innovation competence perception variability while Generation X Employees explain 19% of marketing innovation competence perception variability. It is found that the organizational culture perception of 157 Generation X and 116 Generation Y employees who participated in the study does positively influence the innovation competence. In light of the information acquired with the analyses, the organizational culture of 157 Generation X employees does not make an impact on product innovation competence while the organizational culture perception of 116 Generation Y employees positively influence the product innovation. It is discovered with the study that the "innovation-supportive organizational culture" perception of 157 Generation X and 116 Generation Y employees does positively influence of "process innovation, strategy and marketing innovation competence" perceptions. Therefore, improvements to be made in organizational culture perception will enhance the process, strategy and marketing innovation competence perception. It is hence found with the analysis results that the influence of organizational culture on innovation competence does differ by generations and this influence is higher at Generation Y employees in comparison with Generation X employees.