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The Effect of Adaptive Organizational Culture on Long-Term Survival

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Abstract

Purpose

Organizational culture is a critical resource for organizations to adapt to dynamic environments and to survive in the long term. Unfortunately, a lack of clarity exists in the conceptualization of adaptive cultures and little empirical research investigates its impact on survival. Therefore, the purpose of the present study was twofold: (1) to identify, define, and develop a measure of adaptive organizational culture and (2)  to demonstrate the effect of adaptive culture on organizational survival.

Design/Methodology/Approach

An adaptive culture rating scale was developed based on a review of the existing literature. Ninety-five organizations founded prior to 1940 were rated on nine characteristics of adaptive culture. Ratings were used to predict likelihood to survive using a Cox regression with proportional hazards survival analysis.

Findings

Exploratory factor analysis revealed two broad factors of adaptive culture, values toward change and action-orientation. Findings indicate organizations with adaptive cultures were more likely to survive.

Implications

The present effort provided evidence that culture can serve as an adaptive mechanism with effects spanning decades. Leaders should focus on establishing adaptive cultural norms and values in order to increase chances of surviving.

Originality/Value

This is one of the first historiometric studies to develop and utilize a measure of adaptive culture. Further, this study looked at the impact of adaptive culture on long-term organizational outcomes using survival analysis, a statistical technique not often employed in the organizational literature.

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Notes

  1. Across the organizational culture literature, there is occasionally confusion about whether the work is referring to culture or climate (e.g., Schneider et al. 2013). Although in most cases, researchers have defined their construct as culture (i.e., shared basic assumptions of the larger setting taught to newcomers as the way to think and behave), it is often the case that they are measuring climate (i.e., referent-shift shared mental model of policies and practices). For the present effort, our objective was to measure culture, using the organization as the focal target of each item.

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Acknowledgments

The authors would like to thank to Samantha Dubrow, Hillary Hecht, Garett Howardson, Courtney Morewitz, Theresa Naughton, Lily Philben, Graham Rabinowitsch, Mariel Schoen, Max Silverman, Kaitlin Thomas, and Allison Yost for their assistance with data collection, coding, and useful insights in the development of the research design and data collection. We would also like to thank Marcus Credé and Jose Cortina for providing insightful feedback and suggestions on previous drafts of this paper. The views, opinions, and/or findings expressed in this article are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the position or policy of the Department of the Army or the United States government.

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  1. Department of Organizational Sciences and Communication, The George Washington University, 600 21st St., Washington, DC, 20052, USA

    David P. Costanza, Nikki Blacksmith, Meredith R. Coats & Jamie B. Severt

  2. U.S. Army Research Laboratory, 459 Mulberry Point Rd., Aberdeen Proving Ground, Aberdeen, MD, 21005, USA

    Arwen H. DeCostanza

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Costanza, D.P., Blacksmith, N., Coats, M.R. et al. The Effect of Adaptive Organizational Culture on Long-Term Survival. J Bus Psychol 31, 361–381 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10869-015-9420-y

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