Fostering an aged care organizational culture that supports innovation

This study aimed to identify how aged care organizations can foster a culture that supports the implementation of innovation.

The aged care sector must innovate to meet clients' evolving needs and increased regulatory requirements. Given the need to account for the values, beliefs, expectations, and assumptions held by a diverse range of stakeholders, implementing innovations within aged care can be exceptionally complex. Fostering a supportive organizational culture can facilitate the implementation of these critical innovations.

Papers from a large scoping review that identified organizational culture as a barrier and/or enabler to implementing innovations in aged care were imported into NVivo. Data relating to how organizations fostered (or could foster) a culture that supported the implementation of innovations were then extracted, inductively coded, interpreted, and grouped into approaches.

Of the 193 papers from the original scoping review, 109 were included in this secondary analysis. From these 109 papers, we identified six key approaches: cultivating collaboration; valuing contributions; ensuring alignment between the organizational vision, culture, and innovation; demonstrating organizational commitment; developing and communicating the implementation plan; and accounting for stability.

Our study outlines effective approaches that can be used by aged care organizations to cultivate a culture that supports the implementation of innovations. However, these approaches should not be viewed in isolation; rather, they are interconnected and mutually reinforcing. Together, these insights offer practical guidance for aged care entities seeking to adapt and evolve through innovation implementation.

http://links.lww.com/IJEBH/A264.