The effect of changes in institutional environment on creative research environments at government research institutes

Abstract

This study analyses how organizational environment factors affecting creative R&D performance of governmental research institutes (GRIs) are influenced by changes in the institutional environment on an empirical basis. We have identified environmental factors that affect the creative R&D performance of the Korean GRIs and analysed how these environmental factors are affected by the Korean government's newly adopted project-based system (PBS), which has intensified competition and expanded project scale. For an empirical analysis, a survey was conducted with researchers at GRIs holding doctoral degrees, inquiring about institutional environmental factors, factors affecting the creative research environment and their creative performance.

According to the analysis, the creative performance of Korean GRIs is influenced by factors such as the managerial ability of research team leaders, autonomy in project undertakings, horizontal organization, diversity, and flexibility. However, these creative environmental factors are also affected by changes in institutional environment through a new system introduced by government. In an institutional environment where competition is intensified by the introduction of a new system, managerial ability of research team leaders, autonomy in undertaking projects and flexibility are significant factors affecting creative performance compared to an institutional environment at a lower level of competition. Under an environment where the scale of R&D projects has been expanded through the introduction of a new system, autonomy, horizontal organization and diversity are considered significant factors affecting performance. The results of the analysis imply that institutional changes led by the government not only affect factors relating to creative research environments at GRIs but also impose significant and varying influence over the outcome of creative research.

Keywords:

• creativity
• research environment
• creative R&D performance
• institutional environment
• government research institutes