Personal Values of Managers as a Driver of Innovativeness

Introduction

Based on abundant management and behavioral literature we can argue that working and behavior of organizational members is driven by different factors, as also outlined in the previous chapters (Dessler, 2004; Certo & Certo, 2011; Daft, 2015; Buchanan & Huczynski, 2017). In this chapter we put our focus on managers’ personal values, as an important driver of managerial working and behavior (Hambrick & Mason, 1984; Ralston et al., 1997; Potočan & Mulej, 2007); in line with our aims, we consider personal values as important drivers of managerial innovativeness.

Personal values have been in the sociological and psychological literature outlined as an important driver of individual’s behavior (Rokeach, 1973; Schwartz, 1994). In the scientific literature, the role of personal values for individual’s behavior has been studied in various contexts. In the frame of broader business research streams, several examples of the role of personal values are frequently discussed. For instance, we can emphasize the role of personal values for shopping behavior, since personal values are recognized as an important determinant of consumer behavior. In the above context, studies have identified values, which guide consumers’ behavior in the Western cultural context (i.e. openness to change and self-enhancement) and take it to China (i.e. self-transcendence and self-enhancement values) (Cai & Shannon, 2012), and other societies, having different cultural patterns. Studies have also identified the role of personal values in the patronage of regional shopping malls (Shim & Eastlick, 1998).

Let us narrow our scope down to the management and organizational behavior literature: a significant proportion of the literature is dedicated to the role and importance of personal values in organizations (Mulej, 1976; Burns, 1978; Schein, 1992; Sarros & Santora, 2001; House et al., 2004; Cha & Edmondson, 2006; Pastor & Mayo, 2008; Mahsud et al., 2010; Adler, 2011; Alas et al., 2011; Fein et al., 2011; Ng & Sears, 2012; Lang et al., 2013; Ruibyte & Adamoniene, 2013; Walley et al., 2017). Those mentioned, and many other studies, confirmed the impact of personal values on shaping or directing behavior, attitudes, perceptions, actions, decision making, etc. For instance, in the last two decades an emerging research stream is outlining the role of personal values for corporate social responsibility and sustainability issues. In that context, many studies have recognized personal values as an important driver of pro-environmental behavior (Kemmelmeier et al., 2002; Nordlund & Garvill, 2002; Dietz et al., 2005; Oreg & Katz-Gerro, 2006; Cordano et al., 2010), corporate social responsibility (Kolodinsky et al., 2010; Potocan et al., 2013; Glavas & Kelley, 2014; Nedelko & Potocan, 2014), corporate social entrepreneurship (Hemingway, 2005), etc.

Focusing on another important issue in management literature – innovativeness, which is an important cornerstone of organizational success in contemporary business environment (Amabile, 1988; Collins & Porras, 2002; Afuah, 2003; Skarzynski & Gibson, 2008; Brunswicker & Chesbrough, 2018; Palazzeschi et al., 2018) the effect of personal values on the innovativeness is less frequently considered in the mainstream literature.