Continuous innovation is necessary as a source of competitive advantage due to the constant changes in global business brought about by globalization and the quick advancement of technology. While product and process innovations have traditionally received considerable attention, management innovation (MI) has emerged as an equally critical element (Birkinshaw et al., 2008; Mol and Birkinshaw, 2009). However, despite its potential benefits being clear, the academic debate on MI is still lacking, especially in understanding its interdependence with organizational culture (OC) (Khosravi et al., 2019; Hogan and Coote, 2014). Few studies have systematically examined how organizational culture can both support and hinder methods of managerial innovation, as well as how MI can function as a catalyst for cultural change (Hamel, 2008). By emphasizing this interconnectedness, we add to the expanding body of research that establishes MI as a critical component for achieving long-term competitive advantage through cultural flexibility (Puranam et al., 2014).
By examining how MI and OC influence each other, this study aims to fill this gap and enrich the literature by offering a current and in-depth synthesis of the main research themes and trends. In particular, we specifically investigate MI enablers, how organizational culture supports or inhibits MI, and how MI itself stimulates cultural change. To this end, we use an approach called Systematic Literature Network Analysis (SLNA), which combines the accuracy of literature network analysis with the rigor of a systematic literature review (SLR).
The data for our analysis came from the Scopus database, which contains more than 57 million academic publications. The results of our SLNA provide several important insights. First, we verified that managerial innovation and organizational culture have a positive feedback loop. Secondly, we list several important factors that support management innovation, such as organizational learning, knowledge management, and transformational leadership (Sarros et al., 2008). Third, our work emphasizes how crucial narratives and knowledge management are to the MI-OC dynamic. The SLNA demonstrates the growing importance of management innovation in organisational studies. By filling this knowledge gap, our research lays the foundation for further empirical studies on the connection between MI and OC, providing managers with knowledge that can support the development of innovative and culturally transformative environments.