Promoting Professionals' Innovative Behaviours through Knowledge Assets: the Mediating Role of Knowledge Sharing and Psychological Safety

Purpose - Our contribution originates from the straightforward evidence that the professionals' use of knowledge assets to support their innovative behaviours is, at best, contentious. In this regard, hospital administrators struggle to understand which such precious resources failed to be leveraged. A key question is: should managers invest on Intellectual Capital to promote innovative behaviours? Thus far, we lack empirical work that provides us with a solid and evidence-based answer to this question. Our study addresses this gap by proposing a micro-level investigation of the linkage between intellectual capital and professionals' innovative work behaviours - mediated by professionals' involvement in knowledge sharing behaviours and the existence of a psychologically safe environment in the organization. Design/methodology/approach - The model includes the following from insights in past research that suggest (a) the importance of perceptions of intellectual capital on individuals' knowledge-related activities; (b) the relevance of knowledge sharing activities to affect professionals' innovativeness; (c) a psychologically safe environment as the condition for enacting risk-taking behaviours such as knowledge sharing and innovation. Healthcare professionals from three Hospice and Palliative Care Organisations H&PCOs (all about 100 beds) were surveyed using a self-compiled questionnaire. Selected respondents included physicians and nurses. Overall, 201 questionnaires were returned-but 6 were considered unusable and thus discarded-representing a 86,2% response rate. Collected data were analyzed using structural equations modeling technique. Originality/value - This research addresses an understudied topic as it clarifies the linkage between knowledge assets and innovative behaviours in professionalized contexts. This paper provides empirical support to (a) the positive impact of knowledge assets on knowledge sharing behaviors and innovative behavior among healthcare practitioners; (b) the mediation operated by psychological safety and (c) the appropriateness in studying knowledge sharing and innovative work behavior not as unique behaviors, but as composed by separate activities. Practical implications - Manifesting empirically the positive linkage between intellectual capital and innovative work behaviour provides an evidence-based support to healthcare managers that intellectual capital initiatives should be considered part of a strategy of continuous improvement. The results also indicate the different role played by specific knowledge assets in facilitating different typologies of individual initiatives. The latter result helps clarifying that knowledge asset requires a specific strategy of implementation and oriented toward appropriate directions, otherwise expectations would be misplaced. Furthermore, the results shed light on the responsibility hospital operations managers have to promote interventions aimed at facilitating knowledge-sharing behaviours among healthcare professionals.