An investigation into the impact of an innovative organisational culture on business performance : a case of Zimbabwean state owned telecommunication companies.

Abstract

The study’s main objective was to investigate the impact of an innovative culture on business performance in the Zimbabwean state owned telecommunication companies. The main aim of the study was to determine how strategies for diffusion innovation, proactive leadership culture, strategic product innovations and sources of innovation impact business performance in the Zimbabwean state owned telecommunication companies. The study was quantitative. The explanatory research design was used as there was need to determine the cause and effect between variables. The stratified random sampling technique was used and a target sample of 275 employees in the Zimbabwean owned state telecommunications companies was used. Questionnaires were used to collected data from the selected respondents. A pilot test was carried out to test if the research findings accurately represent what is happening or whether the gathered data reflects what is being studied. The data was reliable as it passed the Cronbach Alpa test. The data was unevenly dispersed hence non-parametric tests were conducted. The results from the study show that leadership proactive culture, sources of innovation and strategic product innovations have a positive impact on business performance. The results also showed that strategies for diffusing innovation had a negative impact on business performance. The study concluded that telecommunication companies who inhibit proactive behaviors, understand the sources of innovation and those that constantly come up with strategic product innovations that suit the needs of the existing market perform better than those who do not. The researcher recommended that policy makers should empower leaders in the telecommunication companies to make all decisions in the companies to quicken decision making and allow the companies to be entrepreneurial orientated. Managers in the telecommunications companies should be agile, take risk, take advantages of the technological revolutions and know what customers want and provide innovative solutions in order to survive the competition in the telecommunications industry. Key concepts: Diffusing innovation, proactive culture, strategic product innovations and sources of innovation