The importance of leadership in innovation processes in nursing homes: An integrative review

Abstract

The rapidly growing number of older people with increasingly complex needs places pressure on quality of care and thereby presents a need for innovation in nursing homes. The aim of this review was to provide a comprehensive overview of the current state of evidence for the importance of leadership in innovation processes in nursing homes. A systematic search was conducted. Titles and abstracts were screened for relevance, data from full texts were extracted and reduced and quality appraisal was performed. Content analysis resulted in two categories: organizational factors associated with innovation and leadership characteristics in innovation, constructing the overall theme, ‘leadership: a key to successful innovations’. The innovations described in the included studies transform the underlying values of organizational culture. The review shows that participative, involving and innovative leadership is the key to success in innovation processes.