摘要：The U.S. health system continues to experience a persistent shortage of Registered
Nurses. A promising innovation to address this problem is the “magnet hospital concept” which
comprises a set of organizational practices to enhance recruitment and retention of nurses. This
concept has received limited theoretical development concerning its adoption and diffusion as an
organizational innovation. Eight major organization theories are used in this paper to analyze the
magnet concept and develop a series of propositions for empirical investigation related to its
adoption and diffusion. This paper contributes to furthering theoretical development of the
magnet concept as a basis for empirical research and thereby contributes to its future propagation
to the degree it is a beneficial innovation.
