The relationship between demographic and occupational variables, transformational leadership perceptions and individual innovativeness in nurses

Aim This study aimed to describe innovativeness among nurses and examine the impact of transformational leadership and demographic and occupational variables on individual innovativeness in nurses. Background Staff nurses must be innovative in order to solve problems occurring in health care environments and implement evidence-based practice. Methods This descriptive, correlational cross-sectional study comprised 300 nurses working in two hospitals in Turkey. The data were collected with a demographic and occupational questionnaire, the Individual Innovativeness Scale and the Transformational Leadership Scale. Data were analysed using descriptive statistics, Pearson's correlation and backward regression. Results Most nurses were categorized as "early majority" (45.3%) or "early adopter" (39.3%) for innovativeness. Education level, position, high self-perceptions of leadership skills and/or perceiving transformational leadership as a high-performance expectation were associated with high levels of individual innovativeness. Conclusion Almost half of the nurses were early adopters who can be role models to other nurses in the diffusion of innovation. Having higher education levels, positions, leadership skills and expectations from management affected nurses' individual innovation more positively. Implications for Nursing Management It can be helpful for nurse managers to understand the adopter categories and affective variables of innovativeness for the diffusion of innovative practices and evidence-based standards at hospitals.