A performance analysis of Brazilian public health: TOPSIS and neural networks application

2018 ◽  
Vol 67 (9) ◽  
pp. 1526-1549 ◽  
Author(s):  
Claudia Affonso Silva Araujo ◽  
Peter Wanke ◽  
Marina Martins Siqueira
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Neural Networks ◽  
Predictive Ability ◽  
Performance Model ◽  
Public Hospitals ◽  
Healthcare Sector ◽  
Two Stage ◽  
Content Type ◽  
The Impact ◽  
A Performance

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to estimate the performance of Brazilian hospitals’ services and to examine contextual variables in the socioeconomic, demographic and institutional domains as predictors of the performance levels attained. Design/methodology/approach The paper applied a two-stage approach of the technique for order preference by similarity to the ideal solution (TOPSIS) in public hospitals in 92 Rio de Janeiro municipalities, covering the 2008–2013 period. First, TOPSIS is used to estimate the relative performance of hospitals in each municipality. Next, TOPSIS results are combined with neural networks in an effort to originate a performance model with predictive ability. Data refer to hospitals’ outpatient and inpatient services, based on frequent indicators adopted by the healthcare literature. Findings Despite a slight performance increase over the period, substantial room for improvement is observed. The most important performance predictors were related to the demographic and socioeconomic status (area in square feet and GDP per capita) and to the juridical nature and type of ownership of the healthcare facilities (number of federal and private hospitals). Practical implications The results provide managerial insights regarding the performance of public hospitals and opportunities for better resource allocation in the healthcare sector. The paper also considers the impact of external socioeconomic, demographic and institutional factors on hospitals’ performance, indicating the importance of integrative public health policies. Originality/value This study displays an innovative context for applying the two-stage TOPSIS technique, with similar efforts not having been identified in the healthcare literature.

Understanding healthcare sector organizations from a dynamic capabilities perspective

2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Ruben Loureiro ◽  
João J. Ferreira ◽  
Jorge Simões
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Dynamic Capabilities ◽  
Health Sector ◽  
Healthcare Sector ◽  
Healthcare Organizations ◽  
Health Organizations ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Public Health Organizations ◽  
Management Positions ◽  
The Impact

PurposeDynamic capabilities (DCs) need renewing to respond to changes emerging in the environment, and organizations must build up their capacities to sustain good performance levels. This study aims to identifying and characterizing the DCs existing in public health sector organizations by surveying the DC-related areas in health organizations, contributing to broader and more systematized knowledge in this field.Design/methodology/approachThe authors sent a questionnaire to 245 professionals with leadership and management positions in healthcare organizations in this study. The authors used multivariate methods to validate the variables used to measure the DCs.FindingsIn addition to highlighting the impact of DCs on public health organizations' performance, the study’s results allowed the authors to identify hidden capacities in the organizations of this sector, which only emerge when resource management difficulties occur. These changes and difficulties may interact with users and/or professionals' needs and make organizational management a particular challenge aggravated by quick responses to ensure the organization's survival.Originality/valueThis study contributes to the literature's call for a deeper understanding of the role of DCs and contribute to a greater practical understanding of how these capabilities influence the performance of such organizations.

Analysis of the operational risk factors in public hospitals in an Indian state

2019 ◽  
Vol 33 (1) ◽  
pp. 67-88 ◽  
Author(s):  
C.R. Vishnu ◽  
R. Sridharan ◽  
P.N. Ram Kumar ◽  
V. Regi Kumar
Keyword(s):  
Risk Factors ◽  
Healthcare System ◽  
Significant Risk ◽  
Public Hospitals ◽  
Healthcare Sector ◽  
Public Healthcare ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Indian State ◽  
The Government ◽  
The Impact

Purpose Risk management in the healthcare sector is a highly relevant sub-domain and a crucial research area from the humanitarian perspective. The purpose of this paper is to focus on the managerial/supply chain risk factors experienced by the government hospitals in an Indian state. The present paper analyzes the inter-relationships among the significant risk factors and ranks those risk factors based on their criticality. Design/methodology/approach The current research focuses on 125 public hospitals in an Indian state. Questionnaire-based survey and personal interviews were conducted in the healthcare sector among the inpatients and hospital staff to identify the significant risk factors. An integrated DEMATEL–ISM–PROMETHEE method is adopted to analyze the impact potential and dependence behavior of the risk factors. Findings The analysis asserts the absence of critical risk factors that have a direct impact on patient safety in the present healthcare system under investigation. However, the results illustrate the remarkable impact potential attributed to the risk factor, namely, staff shortage in inducing other risk factors such as employee attitudinal issues, employee health issues and absenteeism altogether resulting in community mistrust/misbeliefs. Maintenance mismanagement, monsoon time epidemics, physical infrastructure limitations are also found to be significant risk factors that compromise patient satisfaction levels. Practical implications Multiple options are illustrated to mitigate significant risk factors and operational constraints experienced by public hospitals in the state. The study warrants urgent attention from government officials to fill staff vacancies and to improve the infrastructural facilities to match with the increasing demand from the society. Furthermore, this research recommends the hospital authorities to start conducting induction and training programs for the hospital employees to instill the fundamental code of conduct while working in hectic, challenging and even in conditions with limited resources. Originality/value Only limited papers are visible that address the identification and mitigation of risk factors associated with hospitals. The present paper proposes a novel DEMATEL–ISM–PROMETHEE integrated approach to map the inter-relationships among the significant risk factors and to rank those risk factors based on their criticality. Furthermore, the present study discloses the unique setting of the public healthcare system in a developing nation.

Addressing operational constraints through Contextual Leadership at a KZN Public Hospital

2018 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-18
Author(s):  
Sibongile Zungu ◽  
Kenneth M. Mathu ◽  
Caren Scheepers
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Health Care ◽  
Supply Chain ◽  
Healthcare Management ◽  
Public Health Care ◽  
Healthcare Sector ◽  
Accurate Identification ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Contextual Leadership ◽  
The Impact

Subject area Organizational Development; Change Management; Leadership; Healthcare Management Operations; Supply Chain. Study level/applicability MBA; Masters in Healthcare Management; Post-graduate Diploma in Leadership; MPhil in Strategic Leadership. Case overview On April 16, 2016, the CEO of Prince Mshiyeni Memorial hospital, Kwa-Zulu Natal, South Africa, Dr Sandile Tshabalala reflected as he drove through the winding hills of the Cato range. In recent years, the hospital had been a subject of negative publicity with horror stories about patients collapsing while waiting for their medication at one of Durban’s largest hospitals. The case features a number of stakeholders and their demands and even threats. Contextual leadership intelligence requires accurate identification of relevant stakeholders and then involvement in solutions. The case illustrates how these demands had been listened to and how the stakeholders had been involved in finding solutions. A remarkable solution was to realize that the bottleneck at the pharmacy was actually caused by a problem early on in the process, for example, the late start of administrative staff who had to submit patients. A further solution was to utilize the primary health care clinics and even churches for dispensing chronic medicine. Expected learning outcomes Gaining insight and foresight into the operations and supply chain dilemmas in public health care. Developing understanding of the impact of various stakeholders in the healthcare sector. Understanding buy-in when leading change. Acquiring contextual leadership intelligence in the public health environment. Supplementary materials Teaching Notes are available for educators only. Please contact your library to gain login details or email [email protected] to request teaching notes. Subject code CSS 7: Management Science.

Management practices impacting on the rostering of medical scientists in the Australian healthcare sector

2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Jillian Cavanagh ◽  
Timothy Bartram ◽  
Patricia Pariona-Cabrera ◽  
Beni Halvorsen ◽  
Matthew Walker ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Patient Care ◽  
Job Stress ◽  
Job Demands ◽  
Public Hospitals ◽  
Healthcare Sector ◽  
Content Type ◽  
The Public ◽  
Quality Of Patient Care ◽  
The Impact

PurposeThis study examines the management rostering systems that inform the ways medical scientists are allocated their work in the public healthcare sector in Australia. Promoting the contributions of medical scientists should be a priority given the important roles they are performing in relation to COVID-19 and the demand for medical testing doubling their workloads (COVID-19 National Incident Room Surveillance Team, 2020). This study examines the impact of work on medical scientists and rostering in a context of uncertain work conditions, budget restraints and technological change that ultimately affect the quality of patient care. This study utilises the Job-Demands-Resources theoretical framework (JD-R) to examine the various job demands on medical scientists and the resources available to them.Design/methodology/approachUsing a qualitative methodological approach, this study conducted 23 semi-structured interviews with managers and trade union officials and 9 focus groups with 53 medical scientists, making a total 76 participants from four large public hospitals.FindingsDue to increasing demands for pathology services, this study demonstrates that a lack of job resources, staff shortages, poor rostering practices such as increased workloads that lead to absenteeism, often illegible handwritten changes to rosters and ineffectual management lead to detrimental consequences for medical scientists’ job stress and well-being. Moreover, medical science work is hidden and not fully understood and often not respected by other clinicians, hospital management or the public. These factors have contributed to medical scientists’ lack of control over their work and causes job stress and burnout. Despite this, medical scientists use their personal resources to buffer the effects of excessive workloads and deliver high quality of patient care.Originality/valueFindings suggest that developing mechanisms to promote sustainable employment practices for medical scientists are critical for the escalating demands in pathology.

Stakeholder responses toward fast food chains’ CSR

2018 ◽  
Vol 23 (1) ◽  
pp. 117-138 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yeonsoo Kim ◽  
Mari Luz Zapata Ramos
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Social Issue ◽  
Public Relations ◽  
Fast Food ◽  
Corporate Image ◽  
Food Chains ◽  
Supportive Communication ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Health Related ◽  
The Impact

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to examine how stakeholders perceive the motives behind fast food companies’ public health-related corporate social responsibility (CSR) and general social issue-related CSR initiatives, and their responses toward CSR in terms of supportive communication intent, investment intent, and purchase intent. The authors further examine the impact of perceived CSR motives on intent and whether a healthier chain image has an effect on stakeholder responses. Design/methodology/approach An online experiment was conducted. This study employed a randomized 2 (CSR type: health-related CSR vs generic social issue-related CSR)×2 (chain image: healthier chain vs general fast-food chain) full factorial design using general stakeholder samples. Findings For an ordinary fast food restaurant, generic social issue-related CSR programs elicited significantly more positive perceptions of CSR motives, supportive communication intent and investment intent, than public-health related CSR. When a company has a healthier image, stakeholders do not distinguish between CSR types. Stakeholders perceive both CSR types as stemming from mutually beneficial motives and show neutral to slightly positive reactions to both CSR. A positively perceived CSR motive plays a determinant role in anticipating communication, investment, and purchase intents. Originality/value This is the first study that examines stakeholder perception of motives behind and responses toward fast food chains’ health-related vs generic social issue-related CSR initiatives, in light of corporate image. The study findings help public relations practitioners, public health professionals, parent groups, and legislators understand stakeholders’ reactions toward CSR initiatives in the fast food industry and help them monitor practices for improvements.

Effect of female executives on Chinese cultural media enterprise efficiency

2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Ying Li ◽  
Yung-Ho Chiu ◽  
Tai-Yu Lin ◽  
Hongyi Cen
Keyword(s):  
Boards Of Directors ◽  
Company Performance ◽  
Tobit Regression ◽  
Female Executives ◽  
Two Stage ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Female Directors ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Cultural Media ◽  
Better Than

Purpose As more women are now being appointed to senior and top management positions and invited to sit on boards of directors, they are now directly participating in strategic company decision-making. As female directors have been found to provide new ideas, increase company competitiveness, efficiency and performance and bring a greater number of external resources to a company than male directors, this paper aims to put female directors as a variable into the data envelopment analysis (DEA) and statistical models to explore the effect of female directors on operating performances. The DEA first quantified and measured the company efficiencies, after which the statistical model analyzed the correlations between the variables to specifically identify the impact of female decision makers on the operating efficiencies in state-owned and private enterprises. Design/methodology/approach A novel two-stage, meta-hybrid dynamic DEA was developed to explore Chinese cultural media company efficiencies under optimal input and output resource allocations, after which Tobit Regression was applied to determine the effect of female executives on these efficiencies. Findings From 2012 to 2016, the overall efficiencies in Chinese state-owned cultural media enterprises were better than in the private cultural media enterprises. The overall technology gaps (TGs) in the state-owned cultural media enterprises were better than in the private cultural media enterprises. Originality/value Previous research has tended to focus on the causal relationships between female senior executives and business performances; however, there have been few studies on the relationships between female executives and company performance from an efficiency perspective (optimal resource allocation). This paper, therefore, is the first to develop a novel two-stage, meta-hybrid dynamic DEA to examine Chinese cultural media enterprise efficiencies, and the first to apply Tobit Regression to assess the effect of female executives on those efficiencies.

Linking authentic leadership and management capability to public hospital performance: the role of work engagement

2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Mohammed Aboramadan ◽  
Main Naser Alolayyan ◽  
Mehmet Ali Turkmenoglu ◽  
Berat Cicek ◽  
Caterina Farao
Keyword(s):  
Health Care ◽  
Work Engagement ◽  
Authentic Leadership ◽  
Hospital Performance ◽  
Public Hospitals ◽  
Mediation Effect ◽  
Leadership And Management ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Management Capability ◽  
The Impact

Purpose This paper aims to propose a model of the effect of both authentic leadership and management capability on hospital performance. This model proposes work engagement as an intervening mechanism between the aforesaid links. Design/methodology/approach Data were collected from 380 medical staff working in Jordanian Public hospitals and were analysed using the structural equation modelling analysis technique. Findings The results suggest that both authentic leadership and management capability have a positive effect on hospital performance. Although positive, the direct effect of management capability on performance was not significant. Furthermore, work engagement demonstrated to play a full mediation effect between management capability and hospital performance and a partial mediation effect between authentic leadership and hospital performance. Practical implications This study may be of use for public medical services providers in general and other services sectors in terms of the role authentic leadership and management resources can play in contributing to positive work-related outcomes at the individual and organisational levels. Originality/value Considering the mainstream literature in health-care management, to the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first study to date to integrate the impact of both authentic leadership and management capabilities in the public health-care sector. Further, the research model has not previously been introduced when taking into account the role that work engagement can play between the examined variables.

Impact of conspiracy beliefs on Covid-19 fear and health protective behavior: a case of university students

2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Muhammad Asif Naveed ◽  
Amara Malik ◽  
Khalid Mahmood
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Health Education ◽  
University Students ◽  
Private Sector ◽  
Protective Behavior ◽  
Cross Sectional Survey ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Conspiracy Beliefs ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Health Education And Promotion

PurposeThis study investigated the impact of conspiracy beliefs on fear of Covid-19 and health protective behavior of university students in Pakistan.Design/methodology/approachA cross-sectional survey using an online questionnaire was conducted at three universities in Punjab (e.g. two public sectors and one private sector) with permission from concerned authorities for data collection. A total of 374 responses were received that were analyzed by applying both descriptive and inferential statistics.FindingsThe results indicated the prevalence of conspiracy beliefs and fear of Covid-19 among university students of two public sector universities and one private sector university. Furthermore, the conspiracy beliefs of university students predicted their fear of Covid-19. However, conspiracy beliefs did not predict the health protective behavior of university students.Research limitations/implicationsThese results had serious implications for public health in Pakistan demonstrating the critical need for health education and promotion as individual preparedness along with system preparedness is essential to combat Covid-19 pandemic and infodemic. These results are useful for policymakers, healthcare professionals, university administration and library staff for making evidence-based decisions toward health education and promotion related to the Covid-19 pandemic.Originality/valueIt is hoped that the present study would make an invaluable contribution to existing research on promotional health in general and the role of conspiracy beliefs in putting public health at risk in particular as limited studies have been published so far.

The impact of job security, job satisfaction and job embeddedness on employee retention: an empirical investigation of Pakistan’s health-care industry

2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Attia Aman-Ullah ◽  
Azelin Aziz ◽  
Hadziroh Ibrahim ◽  
Waqas Mehmood ◽  
Yasir Abdullah Abbas
Keyword(s):  
Job Satisfaction ◽  
Health Care ◽  
Employee Retention ◽  
Health Care Industry ◽  
Job Security ◽  
Job Embeddedness ◽  
Public Hospitals ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Care Industry ◽  
The Impact

Purpose The purpose of this study is to determine the impact of job security on doctors’ retention, with job satisfaction and job embeddedness as the mediators. In doing so, the authors seek to contribute to the existing literature by providing additional empirical evidence on the links between job security, job satisfaction, job embeddedness and employee retention by using social exchange theory. Design/methodology/approach An empirical study was conducted on doctors working in public hospitals in Pakistan. Data from selected public hospitals were collected using semi-structured questionnaires. The simple random sampling method was applied for participant selection and partial least squares-structural equation modelling was used for data analysis purposes. Findings The findings confirmed the direct and mediation relationships. Thus, all of this study’s hypotheses are supported. The results indicate that job security can improve doctors’ retention. Further, job satisfaction and job embeddedness play crucial roles in mediating the direct relationship. Originality/value This study elaborates job security in health-care sector of Pakistan and also provides empirical evidence of the antecedents and mediators of doctors’ intention to continue working in the health-care industry.

Fake news on Facebook: examining the impact of heuristic cues on perceived credibility and sharing intention

2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Khudejah Ali ◽  
Cong Li ◽  
Khawaja Zain-ul-abdin ◽  
Muhammad Adeel Zaffar
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Social Media ◽  
Design Methodology ◽  
Fake News ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Perceived Credibility ◽  
News Credibility ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Practical Implications ◽  
Active Processing

PurposeAs the epidemic of online fake news is causing major concerns in contexts such as politics and public health, the current study aimed to elucidate the effect of certain “heuristic cues,” or key contextual features, which may increase belief in the credibility and the subsequent sharing of online fake news.Design/methodology/approachThis study employed a 2 (news veracity: real vs fake) × 2 (social endorsements: low Facebook “likes” vs high Facebook “likes”) between-subjects experimental design (N = 239).FindingsThe analysis revealed that a high number of Facebook “likes” accompanying fake news increased the perceived credibility of the material compared to a low number of “likes.” In addition, the mediation results indicated that increased perceptions of news credibility may create a situation in which readers feel that it is necessary to cognitively elaborate on the information present in the news, and this active processing finally leads to sharing.Practical implicationsThe results from this study help explicate what drives increased belief and sharing of fake news and can aid in refining interventions aimed at combating fake news for both communities and organizations.Originality/valueThe current study expands upon existing literature, linking the use of social endorsements to perceived credibility of fake news and information, and sheds light on the causal mechanisms through which people make the decision to share news articles on social media.

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