Managing Social Capital to Facilitate an Organisational Climate for Innovativeness in an Acute Health Service Context

Abstract

This report aims to communicate the results and relevance of this research to practitioners in acute health services. The research examines the relationship between social capital and organisational climate for innovativeness in three NSW operating theatre suites of varying sizes; small, medium, and large. The link between social capital and organisational climate for innovativeness is an underdeveloped area of research, particularly in acute health services. The complexity of the social environment in an operating theatre suite provides an opportunity to examine many aspects of social capital and the highly specialised environment is a relevant area to explore with a focus on innovativeness as society demands continuous improvement in throughput and efficiency. An additional focus of this research is organisational context moderators, such as operating theatre suite size on dimensions of organisational climate for innovativeness and the relationship to social capital. In examining these concepts in this context, this research highlights the potential of enhancing both the organisational climate for innovativeness and understanding how to manage and facilitate social capital in this dynamic and highly specialised environment.