Shopfloor innovation: Facilitating the suggestion and implementation of ideas

Despite increasing recognition of the importance of fostering innovation am ong shopfloor employees, little empirical research has been conducted on th e topic. Moreover, within work psychology, studies have tended to focus on the generation of ideas (creativity) rather than on their implementation. T his study examines the impact of individual perceptions of individual, grou p and organizational factors on both elements of innovation. It was found t hat the suggestion of ideas was more highly related to individual (personal and job) characteristics than the group and organizational characteristics ; whereas the implementation of ideas was more strongly predicted by group and organizational characteristics. As expected, interactions were found be tween the number of suggestions made and group and organizational character istics, demonstrating how successful implementation of new ideas requires b oth their formulation in the first place and an appropriately supportive en vironment. Analysis to explore which factors have the greatest impact on,th e innovation process was also conducted. The practical, theoretical and met hodological implications of the study are discussed.