The Influence of Organizational Culture on Affinity for Knowledge Management Practices of Registered Nurses

This study addressed the problems of hospitals’ duplicated effort and ad hoc knowledge management (KM) practices. The purpose of this quantitative study was to examine the focus and type of organizational culture in order to describe and predict the relationship between organizational culture and the affinity for KM of nurses working in health care organizations in Portland, Oregon. Guided by the competing values framework and social capital theory, this research study was undertaken to illuminate the possible relationship between the affinity for and probable use of KM and organizational culture in Oregon hospitals. Data were collected from 93 registered nurses that completed the Organizational Culture Assessment Instrument and the Knowledge Management Assessment Test via an online survey. Correlation analyses were performed to test the hypotheses. A Pearson’s correlation analysis showed a positive linear relationship of .410 between perceived organizational culture and perceived affinity for KM. A Pearson’s correlation analysis also showed a statistically significant positive linear correlation of .441 between perceived affinity for KM and the perception of externally focused culture. The results of the study may be used to effect social change by offering healthcare administrators, doctors, nurses, and patients the data needed to make critical and perhaps life-saving decisions. KM systems like EpicCare may well improve patient care via the use of intellectual capital across the entire value chain of medical research and patient care. The study will also create the opportunity to compare new treatment options based on data in real time that will assist in evaluating therapeutic options for patients and health care providers