Abstract:

The government of Kenya has invested heavily in public health institutions and continues to do so, with a view to providing quality and affordable healthcare. Despite this, the performance of public hospitals continues to raise serious concerns about customer satisfaction, leading to many patients seeking alternative avenues of treatment. This study therefore sought to examine the effect of innovative culture on the performance of public hospitals in Embu County, Kenya. The study adopted a cross-sectional research design. A sample of 132 employees was selected from a target population of 437 employees drawn from the common departments in all the public hospitals in Embu County. Primary data were collected using a semi-structured questionnaire and analyzed using descriptive and     inferential statistics. The results showed that the adjusted R2 is 0.802. This shows that innovative culture contributed 80.2% to of the performance of public hospitals in Embu County, while 19.8% was due to other factors not included in the study. It is recommended that innovative culture be encouraged in public hospitals by automation of services and more use of ICT, and embracing innovative ideas that help to improve efficiency and ultimately, performance.