Internal Integration and Operational Performance of Kenya’s Public Hospitals

Abstract

The purpose of this paper was to determine the influence of Internal Integration and operational performance in Kenya’s level five public hospitals, as well as the moderating effect of public procurement to the relationship. The study adopted causal and cross-sectional study design to examine the relationship between internal integration, operational performance using empirical data. One hundred sixty-four respondents drawn from the level five public hospitals participated in the research. These were selected from supply chain key personnel working in the supply by applying simple random sampling. Data was collected through a structured questionnaire that contained both open-ended and closed-ended questions and analysed. The results show a significant relationship between internal integration and operational performance (β₁=0.286, p<0.05) with an R-square of 0.421, implying that 42.1% of the variation in the operational performance in level five public hospitals is attributed to changes in internal integration through responsiveness, integrated system, and real-time inventory management, online integration with internal customers, suppliers and warehouse, cross-functional teams, real-time logistics information, functional planning meetings, team building, and regular briefings. Public procurement was also found to significantly moderate the relationship between internal integration and operational performance (β₂=0.378, p<0.05) of the level five public hospitals.The study recommends robust and effective internal integration by strengthening the facilities capabilities through information sharing, structuring of internal operations and process integration before they can engage in meaningful external integration.