Effect of Innovation Culture and Proactiveness on Health Sector Organizational Performance: A Literature Review
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.47941/jepm.3604Keywords:
Intrapreneurship Practices, Innovative Culture, Proactiveness, Organizational PerformanceAbstract
Purpose: Globally, healthcare reforms aimed at enhancing access, quality, and efficiency have yielded mixed results, with Sub-Saharan Africa continuing to experience suboptimal health sector performance despite devolution and infrastructural improvements. This paper explores the problem of persistent healthcare delivery challenges by examining the potential of intrapreneurship practices as alternative measures for enhancing organizational performance. Specifically, this paper synthesizes existing empirical evidence on the effects of innovative culture and proactiveness on organizational performance.
Methodology: A systematic literature review was conducted, drawing from peer-reviewed articles sourced from databases such as Google Scholar, Scopus, and Web of Science, with a thematic focus on 15 studies published between 2016 and 2022.
Findings: The key findings revealed that innovative culture consistently enhances organizational effectiveness, intrapreneurship, and new product performance across various industries. Meanwhile, proactiveness positively influences profitability, organizational resilience, and SME performance, though its effects are often mediated by organizational capability and learning orientation.
Unique Contribution to Theory, Practice and Policy: One limitation of this review is its reliance on published studies from diverse contexts, which may limit direct generalizability to specific healthcare settings. Nevertheless, the paper underscores how intrapreneurial dimensions can inform strategic management in health facilities. It is recommended that policymakers develop frameworks empowering hospital boards to champion innovation, that practitioners cultivate intrapreneurial cultures within their institutions. Lastly, future research should empirically investigate the moderating role of board structure in the intrapreneurship-performance nexus.
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Copyright (c) 2026 Isaac Kipchirchir Kamar, Dr. James Maengwe, Prof. Christopher Ngacho, Dr. Caleb Akuku

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