Factors Affecting Nursing Executive Succession Planning in Community Hospitals, Health Region 7.

Abstract

     This survey research aimed to examine the level of succession planning and the supportive factors for position attainment that were related to and influenced succession planning among nursing administrators in community hospitals under Health Region 7, Thailand. The population consisted of 245 senior- and first-line nursing administrators working in 36 F2 community hospitals. The research instrument was a questionnaire on succession planning, consisting of three parts: personal information, supportive factors for position attainment, and succession planning. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, Pearson’s product-moment correlation coefficient, and stepwise multiple regression analysis.

     The results revealed that: 1) the overall level of succession planning among nursing administrators was at a high level ( = 3.71, S.D. = 0.74); 2) all nine dimensions of supportive factors for position attainment were positively correlated with succession planning at a statistically significant level of .01 (r = 0.51–0.88); and 3) five factors significantly predicted succession planning at the .05 level. Ranked by predictive power, these factors were commitment and perseverance of stakeholders (β = 0.409), advance budget allocation (β = 0.265), alignment with organizational strategic plans (β = 0.152), transparency and fairness of the process (β = 0.146), and communication and policy dissemination by top management (β = 0.107). Together, these variables explained 85.30% of the variance in succession planning (R² = 0.853).The findings of this study can be utilized as fundamental information for the concrete development of succession planning systems for nursing administrators in community hospitals.