Leaderships’ Role in Managing Crisis in the Lebanese Health Sector: An Assessment of Influencing Factors

Abstract

This paper aims to assess the healthcare leadership’s role in crisis management, examine, and investigate the influencing factors. A quantitative analysis approach with a positivism philosophy is adopted. Primary data are collected using a structured questionnaire distributed to a sample of hospital employees in Lebanon. Data analysis used IBM SPSS version 25; whereby descriptive statistics (i.e., frequencies, percentages, means, and standard deviations) and inferential statistics (i.e., factor analysis, multivariable linear regression) were obtained. Results revealed that leaders’ traits and skills like proactivity and communication, gender, hospital location, organization’s culture, and stakeholders’ engagement influence the effectiveness of leaders’ decision-making in a crisis management context. Also, the results confirmed the alternative hypotheses that the explanatory factors have a direct and statistically significant relationship with leaders’ decision-making effectiveness. Outcomes of this research serve as an eye opener to policymakers, health care managers, and stakeholders that a fully integrated effort is a must to mitigate serious crisis consequences.