Employee creativity and innovation activity – a case study of Sunnaas University Hospital

Abstract

Background: The healthcare sector is facing challenges to meet growing demand with limited resources. There is a widely held belief that innovation is the key to solve the challenges ahead. However, research on healthcare innovation insofar has almost exclusively focused on the organizational level – black-boxing the inner workings of the innovation process. Individual creativity is an essential prerequisite for innovation; thus, we cannot fully understand hospital innovation without accounting for individual creativity. Purpose: In this thesis, I present a novel approach to how research from the field of psychology on individual creativity can be combined with established theories of organizational innovation to further our understanding of hospital innovation. The purpose of the study is to investigate how individual creative confidence relates to other factors of the organization’s innovation capabilities, work environment, and innovation activity. Methodology: A cross-sectional quantitative self-report survey was conducted among employees at Norway’s largest specialist hospital in physical medicine and rehabilitation, Sunnaas (n = 161). The data was analyzed using several techniques such as hypothesis tests, one-way analysis of variance, and linear and multiple regression models. Findings: My analysis finds a significant positive relationship between creative confidence, having R&D as a work requirement, and knowledge of routines for submitting ideas. Moreover, I found indications that well-established measures for assessing the work environment are subject to mediation by factors not included in previous studies. Implications: My findings suggest that the previously overlooked factor of individual creativity may have a much more significant impact on hospital innovation than prior research implies. I propose that changing the hiring processes in hospitals to account for creative potential is warranted. Moreover, hospital managers are advised to incorporate innovation activities, such as submitting ideas, as a work requirement and engage the entire organization in its innovation efforts. Particular attention should be paid towards employees outside the R&D department that are less naturally exposed to the organization’s innovation goals and established routines.