Innovation in Isolation? COVID-19 Lockdown Stringency and Culture-Innovation Relationships

In a bid to curb the spread of COVID-19 in 2020, several countries implemented lockdown procedures to varying degrees. This article sought to examine the extent to which country-level strictness, as measured by the Government Response Stringency Index (2020), moderated the relationship between certa...

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Autores principales: Kapoor, Hansika, Ticku, Arunima, Tagat, Anirudh, Karandikar, Sampada
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Frontiers Media S.A. 2021
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7886784/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/33613381
http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2021.593359
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author Kapoor, Hansika
Ticku, Arunima
Tagat, Anirudh
Karandikar, Sampada
author_facet Kapoor, Hansika
Ticku, Arunima
Tagat, Anirudh
Karandikar, Sampada
author_sort Kapoor, Hansika
collection PubMed
description In a bid to curb the spread of COVID-19 in 2020, several countries implemented lockdown procedures to varying degrees. This article sought to examine the extent to which country-level strictness, as measured by the Government Response Stringency Index (2020), moderated the relationship between certain cultural dimensions and estimates of national innovation. Data on 84 countries were collated for Hofstede’s cultural dimensions (2015), and from the Global Innovation Index (2020). Owing to the robust relationships between innovation and the dimensions of uncertainty avoidance, power distance, and individualism, these were used in moderation analyses. In general, power distance was inversely related to innovation, whereas individualism was directly related to it. Results indicated that collectivist and high power distance countries showed lower innovation, irrespective of levels of government stringency as a response to COVID-19. On the other hand, among individualistic and low power distance countries, lower innovation was associated with increased stringency (e.g., blanket restrictions on movement). Higher innovation was observed when such countries had a less severe government response. The dimension of uncertainty avoidance was not significantly associated with innovation at the country level. The implications of lockdowns on general innovation, its inputs, and outputs are discussed in the context of cultural dimensions and country-level policies.
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spelling pubmed-78867842021-02-18 Innovation in Isolation? COVID-19 Lockdown Stringency and Culture-Innovation Relationships Kapoor, Hansika Ticku, Arunima Tagat, Anirudh Karandikar, Sampada Front Psychol Psychology In a bid to curb the spread of COVID-19 in 2020, several countries implemented lockdown procedures to varying degrees. This article sought to examine the extent to which country-level strictness, as measured by the Government Response Stringency Index (2020), moderated the relationship between certain cultural dimensions and estimates of national innovation. Data on 84 countries were collated for Hofstede’s cultural dimensions (2015), and from the Global Innovation Index (2020). Owing to the robust relationships between innovation and the dimensions of uncertainty avoidance, power distance, and individualism, these were used in moderation analyses. In general, power distance was inversely related to innovation, whereas individualism was directly related to it. Results indicated that collectivist and high power distance countries showed lower innovation, irrespective of levels of government stringency as a response to COVID-19. On the other hand, among individualistic and low power distance countries, lower innovation was associated with increased stringency (e.g., blanket restrictions on movement). Higher innovation was observed when such countries had a less severe government response. The dimension of uncertainty avoidance was not significantly associated with innovation at the country level. The implications of lockdowns on general innovation, its inputs, and outputs are discussed in the context of cultural dimensions and country-level policies. Frontiers Media S.A. 2021-02-03 /pmc/articles/PMC7886784/ /pubmed/33613381 http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2021.593359 Text en Copyright © 2021 Kapoor, Ticku, Tagat and Karandikar. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
spellingShingle Psychology
Kapoor, Hansika
Ticku, Arunima
Tagat, Anirudh
Karandikar, Sampada
Innovation in Isolation? COVID-19 Lockdown Stringency and Culture-Innovation Relationships
title Innovation in Isolation? COVID-19 Lockdown Stringency and Culture-Innovation Relationships
title_full Innovation in Isolation? COVID-19 Lockdown Stringency and Culture-Innovation Relationships
title_fullStr Innovation in Isolation? COVID-19 Lockdown Stringency and Culture-Innovation Relationships
title_full_unstemmed Innovation in Isolation? COVID-19 Lockdown Stringency and Culture-Innovation Relationships
title_short Innovation in Isolation? COVID-19 Lockdown Stringency and Culture-Innovation Relationships
title_sort innovation in isolation? covid-19 lockdown stringency and culture-innovation relationships
topic Psychology
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7886784/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/33613381
http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2021.593359
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