This study examines teachers' and students' perceptions of the organizational culture of their universities and their views about and reactions to instructional innovations with regard to student-centred learning, collaborative learning and use of innovative educational technologies. Six Chinese universities were involved and in total 1051 students and teachers participated in a survey study. The results show that features of organizational culture affect students' and teachers' perceived need for innovation, their views about innovative approaches to instruction, responsiveness to instructional innovations and the perceived implementation level of educational innovations. In addition, differences among teachers and students and among the institutions were examined and discussed.