Human resource management innovation in healthcare: the institutionalisation of new support roles

This article draws upon the notion of a ‘human resource management (HRM) innovation’ to explore the development of two new work roles in different healthcare settings. Arguing that the establishment of a new work role represents a distinctive form of HRM innovation, the article elaborates on and refines an influential theoretical model on how and why such roles become institutionalised. Principally based on interview data from key actors actively engaged with the new roles, the article elaborates by focusing on underdeveloped features of this theoretical model, identifying a range of micro processes underpinning the emergence and acceptance of the new work roles. In refining, the article highlights: the fragility of new work roles; the contribution of key actors to their development; and the interaction between workplace, organisation and system level processes in their emergence and acceptance.