Investigation of the Knowledge Level of Hospital Managers About Strategic Management Tools and Their Use

Objectives: Effective and efficient implementation of all elements of strategic management is important for health organizations to achieve their future goals. This study aims to examine the knowledge levels of hospital managers about strategic management tools, their usage of these tools, and the priorities and needs in tool selection. Materials and Methods: The population of the study is the managers working in private hospitals in Antalya Province. 90 managers constitute the sample of the study. The data were collected by face-to-face questionnaire method. The questionnaire includes sociodemographic characteristics form and statements to measure the level of knowledge and use of strategic management tools. Mann Whitney U and Kruskal-Wallis tests were applied to examine the differences between groups, and Spearman Correlation Analysis was applied to examine the relationships between variables. SPSS.25 Package Program was used to analyze the data obtained. Statistical significance was accepted at 0.05 level. Results: 59% of the participants were female, 63% had a bachelor's degree, and the majority (41%) were middle managers. Those who did not receive managerial training and strategic management training were the majority (54% and 71%, respectively). When the knowledge level of the managers about strategic management tools was analyzed, mission and vision (98.9%) received the highest score, and value chain analysis (73.3%) received the lowest score. It was observed that the priorities of the administrators in the selection of strategic management tools were different between the groups according to gender, level of education, and type of school graduated from. In addition, statistically significant relationships were found between the priorities in the selection of strategic management tools and age, professional experience and years of working in the organization. Conclusion: Managers have limited knowledge and use of strategic management tools and there are differences in the selection of strategic management tools according to their sociodemographic status.