Abstract
Purpose. The purpose of this research was to: (1) Identify the most common internal factors purported to create and sustain innovative organizational climates; (2) Determine to what extent hospitals in Southern California have developed and are sustaining innovative climates; and (3) Determine whether hospitals' innovative factor scores grouped by quartile will vary significantly with different types of organizational demographic characteristics. Research methodology. A literature review was conducted to determine those factors deemed important for developing and sustaining a climate for corporate innovation. A survey of nongovernmental general acute-care hospitals in Southern California was conducted to determine to what extent those hospitals have developed and sustain organizational climates for innovation as evidenced by the degree to which select factors (influences) are present in their internal environments. Each of seven major organizational demographic characteristics was then compared against the others independently to determine whether innovative factor scores grouped by quartile vary significantly by the demographic characteristic group. Principal findings and conclusions. Approximately 100 internal environmental organizational factors influencing the development and maintenance of innovative organizational climates were identified from the literature review. Based upon the extent to which those factors were present in the 104 hospitals surveyed, most were found to have relatively weak climates for innovation. Hospitals' innovative climates do not appear to vary significantly with most organizational demographic characteristics as they differ by size, ownership, or control. Recommendations. It is recommended that future study and analysis be undertaken to define the nature of the relationship between the strength of an organization's innovative climate and that organization's innovative output.