Effect of Organizational and Personal Characteristics on Nurses' Innovation Behavior

Background: Innovation is being considered by health organizations as an essential approach for effectiveness and competitiveness. Many factors have been displayed to be basis for supporting an organizational innovative behavior as organizational and personal characteristics. Aim: To determine the effect of organizational and personal characteristics on nurses' innovation behavior. Subjects and Method: Design: A descriptive correlational design was used. Tools: Three tools were used for data collection; Organizational characteristics scale, personal characteristics scale, and nurses' innovation behavior scale. Subject: Convenient nurses' sample (N=175) who work in ICUs, medical, surgical and orthopedic departments at Main Assiut University Hospital. Results: Showed that the highest mean score in organizational characteristics subscales was related to work discretion (6.48 ±17.41) while lowest was related to rewards/reinforcement (3.77± 9.57). The highest mean score in personal characteristics subscales was related to proactivity (7.63±20.87). There were highly statistically significance positive correlations between nurses' innovation behavior and organizational and personal characteristics subscales. There were statistically significance positive correlations between age and time availability, management support, and rewards/ reinforcement. Also, a highly statistically significance positive correlations between years of experience and time availability and creative efficacy and between work settings and rewards/reinforcement and innovation behavior Conclusion: more than two third of studied nurses perceived their personal characteristics and innovation behavior as unsatisfactory level, and slightly less than half of them perceived their organizational characteristics as satisfactory level. Recommendations: Nursing Managers should develop strategies to create the organizational culture for increasing innovation behavior among nurses particularly in enhancing management support for innovation, policy makers should support innovation as a job requirement, and develop polices for improvement nurses knowledge through; continuing education and training professional development.