Validation of the intellectual capital scale of nursing services

• Autor(a) principal: Faria, João S.
• Data de Publicação: 2018
• Outros Autores: Rodrigues, Helena S., Araujo, Beatriz, Valente, Cláudia
• Tipo de documento: Artigo
• Idioma: eng
• Título da fonte: Repositório Científico de Acesso Aberto de Portugal (Repositórios Cientìficos)
• Texto Completo: http://hdl.handle.net/10400.14/24311
• topic: Adaptation; Validation; Intellectual capital; Innovation; Nursing

Objective:Nursing services are considered strategic in the functioning of health organizations, therefore the study of intellectualcapital (human capital, structural capital, relational capital of nursing services) in innovation as a contribution to decision policies,practice and research. The main focus is to promote critical thinking on the condition of nursing services in an innovativeperspective. This study aims to adapt and validate the psychometric properties of the Questionnaire of Intellectual Capital andInnovative Capacity (already used in business management, automobile) and apply it to the Nursing Services (QICICNS).Methods:A cross-sectional and quantitative study was carried out on a sample of 1,388 Portuguese nurses enrolled in the Nurses’Order. For the analysis of the psychometric properties of the instrument we used the factorial analysis of main components withvarimax rotation of the scale items and the calculation of the Cronbach Alpha coefficient.Results:The QICICNS analysis revealed good internal consistency (global scale = 0.95, constructs between 0.83 and 0.97) andgood quality of the items (KMO = 0.95), with four factors being extracted: human capital, relational capital, structural capital andinnovation.Conclusions:The positive indices of internal consistency and the sensitivity of this questionnaire show the validity of thereliable and robust data collection instrument in the studied context. Implications for nursing management: QICICNS, due to itsmultifaceted nature, can be a management tool in the decision making support by nursing managers. The characteristics of eachintellectual capital construct may influence the management of services and future investigations.