Innovation Dissemination in West Africa

To increase the impact of Seed’s Transformation Program, Stanford SPARQ: Social Psychological Answers to Real-world Questions (SPARQ) proposes a Discovery Award Project that will apply our research on culture clashes to the problem of innovation dissemination in West Africa. We hypothesize that an independence-interdependence culture clash may be undermining the spread of entrepreneurial mindsets within and between firms in West Africa, and that addressing this culture clash may enhance the effectiveness of the Transformation Program. In particular, we predict that the following features of West African interdependence clash with the independent practices of American executives and managers, particularly those in Silicon Valley: 1) pervasive cultural mistrust, 2) steep STATUS hierarchies, and 3) relational motivations. To bridge the independent-interdependent cultural divides between American business practices and West African organizational cultures, we will: 1) Examine how much pervasive cultural mistrust, steep organizational hierarchies, and relational work motivations impede the spread of entrepreneurial mindsets; 2) With SEED mentors and participants in West Africa, explore the appeal, feasibility, and likely outcomes of at least two interventions that inspire the spread of innovation; and 3) With SEED mentors and participants, co-create and test at least one of these interventions in their firms.