An assessment of the influence of strategic plan implementation on service quality in public hospitals in Kiambu County

Abstract

An assessment of the influence of strategic plan implementation on service quality in public hospitals continues to remain an area that need to be studied. Public hospitals continue to be blamed by the public for their quality of service yet these institutions have implemented strategic plan aimed at improving the service quality. Many scholars have studied on strategy formulation and implementation but little has been done on the influence of the strategic plan implementation on service quality this therefore leaves a research gap for this study. The general objective of this study was to assess the influence of strategic plan implementation on service quality in public hospitals in Kiambu County, with specific objective being; to assess the influence of information system on service quality in public hospitals, to assess the influence of health work force training and welfare on service quality in public hospital, to assess the influence of leadership and governance on service quality in public hospitals and to assess the influence of resource mobilization and allocation on service quality in public hospitals. The literature review focused on theoretical and empirical foundations on the study topic. These theories were system theory, human capital theory, stakeholders’ theory and resource based view theory. The study was done in Kiambu County covering all the 12 sub-counties in the County and adopted descriptive survey design which was used to assess the influence of strategic plan implementation on service quality in public hospitals in Kiambu County. A sample size of 50 respondents across Kiambu County was selected from a target population of 156 to answer questions. Questionnaire were used in data collection and collected data analyzed with the aid of statistical package for social sciences (SPSS) version 21 and both descriptive and inferential statistics was used to present data summaries using frequency distribution tables, graphs and pie charts. The study generated information that county and national government, hospital administration, general public and scholars found relevant in solving the current level of service in public hospitals with aid of strategic plan implementation. The study found out that information system, health workforce training and welfare, leadership and governance and resource mobilization and allocation influenced service quality in the public hospitals, with information system and leadership and governance affecting the current service quality positively while the current health work force training and welfare and resource mobilization and allocation affecting the services negatively. Based on these findings, there is a need to enhance current information system and leadership and governance for even better results while health work force training and welfare and resource mobilization and allocation need to be re looked and a radical change required if these factors were to give better result. Training on strategic plans, more funding from government and other sources were also recommended.