Innovative Culture in Ireland's Higher Education Institutions: An Assessment
28 Pages Posted: 10 May 2015
Date Written: May 8, 2015
Abstract
The role of universities has expanded to include being a driver of innovation. We suggest that any such body so charged is perhaps best suited to achieve this if it itself is innovative. We review the literature on corporate innovation, discuss a recent metric of innovative culture and present the results of a large scale survey on innovative cultures within the higher education sector in Ireland. It is found that there is a divide between the university and institutes of technology sector, with organisational cultures in universities being perceived to be much more innovative than those in institutes, despite these latter being designed to be closer to industry. We also find that STEM faculty members see cultures as less innovative than others. These findings raise questions around the implicit and explicit thrusts of Irish higher education policy.
Keywords: Innovation,Corporate cultures,economic impact, Ireland, universities,institutes of technology
JEL Classification: O31, O32, M14, H52,
Suggested Citation: Suggested Citation