APPLICATION OF EVIDENCE-BASED MANAGEMENT (EBMGT) AMONG HEALTHCARE LEADERS IN PRIVATE HEALTHCARE SECTOR IN MALAYSIA

Abstract

Aims: With the increasing complexity of healthcare system, there has been an increase in the need for more healthcare managers to manage the delivery of health services. Studies have shown that organizations with management practices, strong leadership, and clinically qualified managers have had greater performances. The application of Evidence-Based Medicine has long existed, which have led to the idea of applying the same within the field of management – Evidence-Based Management (EBMgt). This study therefore aims to understand the intention of these healthcare leaders to apply the practice of EBMgt in their decision-making process. Methods: This is a cross-sectional study conducted among 234 healthcare managers in major private healthcare facilities in Malaysia. An online survey was distributed to healthcare managers from 58 private hospitals in Malaysia with MSQH accreditation. The survey was adapted from the Theory of Planned Behaviour (TPB) and a fivepoint Likert scale was used for the measurement variables in this study. The data collected was exported to IBM Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) Version 26. Results: Attitude towards use of EBMgt has a direct positive effect on intention to use (β = 0.489, p ˂0.05) and so as with subjective norm which also indicated a direct positive effect on intention to use (β = 0.317, p ˂ 0.05). However, perceived behavioural control was found not to be statistically significant (β = -0.038, p ˂ 0.47) in relation to intention to use EBMgt. Conclusion: Attitude and subjective norms were significant to predict healthcare managers’ intention to use EBMgt which will likely lead to actual use of EBMgt in their decision making. Key words: Evidence-based management, EBMgt, Attitude, Subjective norm, Perceived behavioural control, Intention, Healthcare management.