Increasing the motivation and ability of health care managers to access and use management research
Despite much work on how clinicians use and enact clinical research, there is little known about how healthcare managers use management research. This research project investigates how and under what circumstances managers (both general managers and hybrid-clinical managers) access and use management research based knowledge in their decision-making. The study will, in a three-stage design, explore the boundaries between management research and practice.
Starting in July 2009, and funded by the SDO for a 30-month period, the research is being undertaken in a variety of healthcare settings, spanning public and private provider organizations. The research will create a robust evidence base of the factors (individual, group and organization-level) that impact on the access and use of managerial knowledge. The exploration of knowledge utilization processes in settings critical to the 21st century health economy will help policy makers and managers broadly defined, and will be of benefit to users.
The project team brings together research expertise from the Saïd Business School, University of Oxford, and King’s College London, as well as outside, in the fields of healthcare management, knowledge utilization and organizational change. The research team consists of Sue Dopson (Principal Investigator, SBS), Ewan Ferlie (KCL), Michael Fischer (KCL), Louise Fitzgerald, Janette MCulloch, Gerry McGivern (KCL), and Chris Bennett.