Employee involvement in innovation activities in hospitals: How perception matters

Abstract

Employees are a very important source of innovation and essential for the generation, dissemination and implementation of these ideas throughout the organization. This is especially relevant when considering innovation in services during service (co-) creation such as within the healthcare sector. However, perceived employee involvement in innovation (EII) and between stakeholder group interactions in hospitals has not yet been studied in detail. This paper addresses the following research questions: “How do different employee groups perceive their involvement in the innovation process in hospitals and how do their actual involvement levels differ?” and (2) “How do different employee groups perceive their interaction with other employee groups in the innovation process and how do their actual interactions differ?” We analyzed a single typical German research hospital and conducted episodic interviews with employees representing different staff groups. We revealed that while all groups of employees are involved in innovation activities, perception of their involvement in innovation activities differs widely. There is a gap between perception and actual involvement particularly for lower level employees such as nurses. Further, their interaction differs among employee groups and innovation takes place in-group, rather than through group interaction. With our paper, we add to the understanding of perceived EII in hospitals and discuss measures for hospital management to increase EII.

The Inter-Relation of Corporate Social Responsibility at Employee Level, Servant Leadership, and Innovative Work Behavior in the Time of Crisis from the Healthcare Sector of Pakistan

“…In this regard, the current research study argues that employees are an important source in providing innovative solutions in an organization and, hence, seeking to enhance EIB in healthcare organizations is not without logic. This importance of employees as a source of innovation is also supported by extant researchers [38][39][40]. Second, the healthcare sector represents a classic case in which the duration of employee-patient interaction is when as compared to other segments as healthcare employees keep in touch with the patients even for several weeks during their stay in a hospital [41,42].…”

Responsible innovation in health and health system sustainability: Insights from health innovators’ views and practices

“…What is understood and managed as falling within or outside public health systems (e.g., aging, socioeconomic vulnerabilities, informal caregiving, and resilient communities) ( Barr et al, 2003 ) may hinder sustainable health system-oriented innovation where the population health, superior care and fair service provision “regardless of age, group identity, or place” should prevail ( Fineberg, 2012 ). Because our sample was comprised of innovators operating both not-for-profits and for-profits, our findings also highlighted how healthcare management receptiveness to diverse forms of entrepreneurship ( Santos et al, 2015 ; Giacomelli et al, 2019 ) could help to “think outside the health system box” ( Busch-Casler et al, 2020 ).…”

“…This is compatible with studies indicating that innovation depends upon the quality and thoroughness of the interactions between innovators, health and social care practitioners, and healthcare managers ( Martin et al, 2012 ). Though inclusiveness is aligned with the growing importance attached to health services co-creation, Busch-Casler et al (2020) found that “lower level employees are often left out” of innovation processes at an early stage and this may be due to “top-down” governance. Likewise, our study highlights that the diversity and scope of stakeholder engagement is modulated by power relations affecting how innovators may have access to managers, providers, patients and their caregivers.…”

“…With the aim to assist healthcare managers in implementing “innovative ways of working,” scholars shed light over the organizational challenges raised by health innovation ( Martin et al, 2012 ). They also examined organizational readiness to change (Williams, 2011) and the impact of multidisciplinary collaboration ( Alrabie, 2020 ; Giacomelli et al, 2019 ), employee involvement ( Busch-Casler et al, 2020 ), and clinical leadership ( Dickinson et al, 2013 ; Erskine et al, 2013 ; Lega et al, 2017 ; Storey et al, 2015 ) on the adoption of new technologies and services. Such research recognizes that healthcare managers’ decisions are constrained by “scarcity of resources” ( Marsilio and Prenestini, 2020 ).…”

Assessing the employees’ efficiency and adaptive performance for sustainable human resource management practices and transactional leadership: HR-centric policies for post COVID-19 era

“…The leaders of an organization should make a concerted effort to promote employee engagement by offering visible chances for individuals or groups at all levels of the company to have a greater voice (Prieto et al, 2020). When new ideas are generated, disseminated, and implemented in the workplace by employees, they represent an important source of innovation (Busch-Casler et al, 2020). The engagement of the whole firm's employees in improving the working environment, product quality, equipment productivity, and, finally, the competitiveness of the organization is how employee involvement is described by the industry.…”