| Abstract [eng] |
Food industry is facing increasingly stringent food safety and sustainability requirements, along with constantly changing consumer expectations. In the Lithuanian context, the relevance of innovation is further strengthened by the strategic direction of the agri-food sector, which aims to increase the share of life sciences (including agri-food) in GDP to 5% by 2030 through innovation, sustainability, and digitalization. Innovation outcomes are determined not only by technological investments but also by innovation culture factors that create conditions for innovations. Although research on innovation culture has been done across various contexts, literature still lacks studies on the factors shaping innovation culture in specific manufacturing sectors such as the food industry. The object of the master's thesis is the factors shaping innovation culture in the food industry, the aim – to identify the factors influencing the formation of innovation culture in the food industry. Based on literature, a model of factors shaping the innovation culture was developed. The model distinguishes between internal and external factors. Internal factors include leadership, structural and strategic orientations, psychological safety, empowerment and creativity, risk tolerance, market orientation, collaboration and learning, and technological capabilities. External factors include national culture, government support, market dynamics and competition. To substantiate the theoretical model, a research methodology was developed, a qualitative research method was selected – semi-structured interviews involving 11 managers and 4 employees from a single food industry enterprise. Also, an expert ranking of the identified factors was conducted. The research results showed that innovation culture is primarily shaped by internal organizational factors, while external factors function mainly as a contextual background. Leadership was identified as the key factor through which other factors are integrated. Given the high level of regulatory risk, innovation culture in the food industry must be structured and goal-oriented: creativity should be balanced with structural discipline, and innovations should be consistently linked to value creation and risk assessment. Psychological safety in the food industry functions as a practical space. The maturity of innovation culture is determined by the ability to manage risk effectively. The study found that innovations most often arise from everyday practices and incremental improvements. However, the speed of innovation may be constrained by information loss, silo effects, and KPI conflicts. The results of the factor ranking indicated that the most important factors are leadership, psychological safety, and empowerment and creativity, while national culture and government support were rated as the least important. Market dynamics and competition emerged as the strongest external pressure factor. Based on the research insights, it is recommended that the organization strengthen its capacity dedicated to innovation, more clearly define the boundaries of psychological safety in the food industry context, improve the management of decision-making speed in cases of larger innovations, and enhance collaboration in order to reduce information loss and accelerate the implementation of innovations. |
