Innovation as a robust response to crises in public healthcare organizations: Evidence from Italy

This study investigated whether public managers implemented innovations as a robust response to the Covid 19 crisis. To fulfill the aims of the study, interviews were conducted with the chief executive officer (CEO) of Italian public healthcare organizations to identify the innovation types that were implemented, their loci, and the factors affecting their implementation. While some innovations were stimulated by external factors, driven by the regional government’s institutional priorities, others were driven by the CEO’s leadership. Although all the innovations to be implemented required a set of physical and technical resources, the internal ones, especially those related to strategic positioning, required the CEO’s additional effort to legitimate innovation. This article examines innovation strategies and factors that influence strategic repositioning in public healthcare organizations as a reaction to extraordinary crises. It deepens understanding of collaborative and robust governance to address turbulent crises.

This article highlights the risk mitigation strategies that chief executive officers (CEOs) can utilize to alter the strategic position of their public healthcare organizations by capitalizing on opportunities presented by unprecedent crisis. On one side, the greater the need for the innovation strategy to reassess the mission, the more the CEOs must address the risk with the help of stakeholders. Conversely, those CEOs who chose not to reveal the innovation to safeguard its implementation are part of a regional healthcare system with a centralized governance structure. In such cases, the potential for sanctions did not hinder the CEOs' proactive stance, as the advantages for the regional healthcare service from implementing the innovation were clear.This study investigated whether public managers implemented innovations as a robust response to the Covid 19 crisis. To fulfill the aims of the study, interviews were conducted with the chief executive officer (CEO) of Italian public healt...