A Bibliometric Review of Publications on Innovative Behaviors of Nurse Managers

Aim: This study used bibliometric indicators to provide an overview of research on nurse managers’ innovative behaviors.

Background: Encouraging nurses’ innovative abilities leads to improved care quality and work efficiency and reduced healthcare costs. For these reasons, the innovative behaviors of nurse managers are crucial for both their personal development and the success of their teams.

Method(s): Bibliometric methods were employed to investigate the innovative behaviors of nurse managers. Data were collected from the Web of Science (WoS) database through mid-September 2024. A query string search yielded 478 articles, of which 44 met the inclusion criteria and were analyzed using bibliometric techniques. Microsoft Excel and the VOSviewer software were used to analyze the distribution of publications by year, leading countries, prominent journals, contributing authors, coauthor networks, and keyword co-occurrence.

Results: There has been a recent increase in publications on the innovative behaviors of nurse managers, with the United States leading in publication output. The Journal of Nursing Management and the Journal of Nursing Administration were identified as the most prolific journals in this area. In the coauthorship analysis, nine authors emerged as the most linked, forming a cluster with a total of 36 links. Furthermore, the most used keywords were “nurses,” “psychological empowerment,” and “innovative behavior.” Additionally, 56.8% of the articles employed quantitative methods, 31.8% used qualitative methods, and 11.4% applied mixed-method research designs.

Conclusion(s): The analysis of articles indexed in the WoS database suggests that research on the innovative behaviors of nurse managers is still in its developmental stages.

Implications for Nursing Managers: Future research should explore the innovative behaviors of nurse managers and the factors influencing these behaviors further. Both qualitative and quantitative studies should examine how and to what extent these behaviors impact the nurses under their supervision.