Finding a solution to a problem often provides a trigger for innovation. If you believe the promotional
appearances of companies, innovations emerge on a continuous basis and the use of the term is sometimes
inflationary. But the gap between claim and reality is often wide. What is certain, however, is that the topic of
innovation has moved decisively into the focus of relevance to society. Globalization and the
internationalization of markets have put companies under increasing competitive pressure.
Most of the literature seems to emphasise the importance of research and development, often in the form of
technological inventions as the primary innovation input. However, scholars raised concerns regarding this
approach to innovation research and deemed the sole focus on R&D as an innovation success factor as
insufficient.
Innovation is a complex process requiring multiple iterations, the involvement of not only several departments
within an organisational but often even several entities in a broader context. Therefore, a broader system
approach to innovation in necessary in order to achieve a more complete understanding of its requirements.
As the innovation process heavily human interactions throughout its various stages, the connection between
innovation and cultural and social dimensions is easily made. Several articles explore the effect of various
cultural dimensions on a national level as well as organisational culture in regard to innovation success. A big
portion of innovation research in the recent years also heavily focuses on social capital expenditures on an
organisational level. There is however a lack of research regarding the relationship between efforts towards
social wellbeing and corporate innovation success on a national level.
Therefore, this thesis will explore the possible correlation between national social wellbeing and innovation
success.
The following research questions arise from the above-mentioned problem:
Research question 1: What are the characteristics that shape a social wellbeing within a nation?
Research question 2: Does a significant relationship between social wellbeing in European countries and their
innovation levels exist?
Research question 3: What recommendation can be made regarding national expenditures on social wellbeing
in order to increase innovation success within a country?
The aim of this research is to analyse weather an increase in national expenditures and efforts to increase
social wellbeing might help creating a beneficial environment for innovation success. The current state of the
research will be discussed on the basis of the research question. A correlation analysis will be conducted using
indicator data from the world bank database, the sample size will consist of 25 European countries using the
data from five consecutive years.