Individual-Level Factors are Significantly More Predictive of Employee Innovativeness Than Job-Specific or Organization-Level Factors: Results From a Quantitative Study of Health Professionals

Abstract

Individual innovativeness is particularly indispensable among health professionals. The healthcare environment is complex and its knowledge workers must continually adapt to change and be comfortable with ambiguity. The objective of this study was to determine the relative importance of individual, job-specific, and organizational factors on innovative output of health professionals. Employed Canadian Registered Dietitians (n = 237) completed an online survey incorporating relevant validated tools, including the 10-item Big Five Inventory and the Alberta Context Tool. Factors were classified by level and introduced in blocks to a multivariate linear regression model, with the outcome of self-reported innovative output. Factors included in the model explained 44% of variation in self-reported innovative output. Although all blocks contributed significantly to the model, minimal variation was explained by factors at the job-specific (4%) and organizational levels (4%). Factors at the individual level most predictive of innovative output were role innovation, the personality trait of conscientiousness and voluntary membership in a professional association. To encourage employee innovativeness, health administrators, and managers of health professionals should consider how best to incorporate screens for individual-level indicators of innovative output (eg, personality tests) in their institutional hiring and selection processes.