Designing a National Innovation Governance Model: A Study of National Innovation Policymaking and Implementing Organizations

Abstract

This study aimed to design and validate a context-specific national innovation governance model for organizations responsible for national innovation policymaking and implementation. This applied study employed an exploratory sequential mixed-methods design within a pragmatic paradigm. In the qualitative phase, 20 university professors, faculty members, and experienced managers from national innovation policymaking and implementing organizations in Tehran Province were selected through purposive sampling. Data were collected using in-depth semi-structured interviews and analyzed according to Braun and Clarke’s thematic analysis procedure using MAXQDA. Qualitative credibility and dependability were assessed through member checking, peer review, recoding, and intercoder agreement, with an overall agreement rate of 92%. In the quantitative phase, a questionnaire was developed based on the qualitative findings. Its content validity and internal consistency were examined before administration to 199 managers selected from national innovation policymaking and implementing organizations. Exploratory factor analysis and variance-based structural equation modeling using the partial least squares approach were conducted in SPSS version 24 and SmartPLS version 3. Structural model analysis demonstrated that innovation policies, innovation infrastructure, and innovative governance structure had positive and statistically significant effects on innovation capacity development. The corresponding path coefficients were 0.511, 0.421, and 0.476, respectively, indicating that innovation policies had the largest effect on capacity development. Innovation infrastructure significantly predicted innovation capacity development and innovative organizational culture (t=5.515 and t=2.875, respectively). Innovative governance structure also significantly affected these constructs (t=2.944 and t=3.909), as did innovation policies (t=2.772 and t=5.023). Furthermore, innovative organizational culture and innovation capacity development exerted significant positive effects on national innovation success (t=7.602 and t=9.707, respectively; p<0.05). Thus, all hypothesized structural relationships were supported. National innovation success depends on an integrated governance architecture in which coherent innovation policies, adequate technological and institutional infrastructure, and an innovative governance structure jointly strengthen organizational culture and innovation capacity. Accordingly, policymakers should address institutional, infrastructural, cultural, and human-capacity mechanisms as interconnected components rather than as isolated policy domains.