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Organizational Culture and Its Relationship with Hospital Performance in Public Hospitals in China
Author(s) -
Zhou Ping,
Bundorf Kate,
Chang Ji,
Huang Jin Xin,
Xue Di
Publication year - 2011
Publication title -
health services research
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.706
H-Index - 121
eISSN - 1475-6773
pISSN - 0017-9124
DOI - 10.1111/j.1475-6773.2011.01336.x
Subject(s) - organizational culture , public hospital , perception , nursing , job satisfaction , organisation climate , empowerment , medicine , business , psychology , family medicine , public relations , social psychology , political science , neuroscience , law
Objective To measure perceptions of organizational culture among employees of public hospitals in C hina and to determine whether perceptions are associated with hospital performance. Data Sources Hospital, employee, and patient surveys from 87 C hinese public hospitals conducted during 2009. Study Design Developed and administered a tool to assess organizational culture in C hinese public hospitals. Used factor analysis to create measures of organizational culture. Analyzed the relationships between employee type and perceptions of culture and between perceptions of culture and hospital performance using multivariate models. Principal Findings Employees perceived the culture of C hinese public hospitals as stronger in internal rules and regulations, and weaker in empowerment. Hospitals in which employees perceived that the culture emphasized cost control were more profitable and had higher rates of outpatient visits and bed days per physician per day but also had lower levels of patient satisfaction. Hospitals with cultures perceived as customer‐focused had longer length of stay but lower patient satisfaction. Conclusions Managers in C hinese public hospitals should consider whether the culture of their organization will enable them to respond effectively to their changing environment.