An Examination of the Effects of Organizational Norms, Organizational Structure, and Environmental Uncertainty on Entrepreneurial Strategy

Investigators have examined the impact of organizations' structural and environmental characteristics on innovation. We developed a measure of the innovation management process, specifically organizational norms toward innovation, and examined its relationship to innovation (as measured by effective entrepreneurial strategy) in combination with measures of organizational structure and environment. Survey responses from respondents within 77 strategic business units were analyzed. Innovation norms, degree of decentralization in organizational structure, and environmental uncertainty explained significant and meaningful variance in entrepreneurial strategy. Interestingly, correlations between success of entrepreneurial strategy and (a) organizational structure and (b) environmental uncertainty approach zero when innovation-related norms are partialled out. Implications are discussed for the integration of this previously unexamined process variable innovation norms-to extend theories of innovation and corporate entrepreneurship.