National Culture and Innovation: Russia in the Context of Cross-Country Comparisons

The role of national culture in socio-economic development is actively studied in various fields of social sciences. However, its influence on the effectiveness of innovation activities has not been sufficiently explored. This research is dedicated to addressing a pressing scientific problem – enhancing the effectiveness of innovation activities by adapting them to the characteristics of national culture. This is particularly important for Russia, which possesses significant scientific, technical, and cultural potential for improving its innovation system. The aim of the study is to identify the role of national culture in addressing this issue and to determine the specifics of the Russian model. The research hypothesis is as follows: indicators of innovation performance have a statistically significant and stable relationship with factors of national culture; Russian national culture exhibits institutional characteristics that both promote and hinder the development of certain aspects of innovation activities. A regression analysis was conducted on a sample of 100 countries worldwide, which revealed a stable and statistically significant relationship between indicators of innovation activity according to the Global Innovation Index, 2023 (such as knowledge creation, creative goods and services, intangible assets, information and communication technologies, trade, diversification, and market scale) and factors of national culture based on Geert Hofstede's model (power distance, individualism, achievement motivation, uncertainty avoidance, long-term orientation, and indulgence). A strong positive correlation was found between individualism and long-term orientation and indicators such as the number of patent applications, exports of creative goods and services, and the development of information and communication technologies. The analysis of the role of Russian culture in innovation activities showed that high power distance and uncertainty avoidance can both hinder individual initiative and promote the effective implementation of large-scale projects through centralized management. The specifics of Russian national culture in the context of innovation performance are described in detail, recommendations for using the results to develop a strategy for Russia's innovation development are formulated, and directions for further research are proposed