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In the context of economic crisis, the use of advanced management methods can be an option to improve organizations’ performance. For instance, employment of Information and Communications Technology (ICT) and Decision Support Systems (DSS) aid managers to analyze current situations and orient them to make better decisions (Edelhauser et al., 2010). In the healthcare industry, Medical Information Systems (MIS) contribute to a “patient-centered” medicine where patient’s needs and preferences are pivotal for the process (Rajković et al., 2013) and provide “a safer, better, more rational and better-integrated healthcare system, for both the citizens and healthcare employees” (Milenković et al., 2009).
Healthcare institutions have been demanded to deliver more complex services with fewer resources (Goh et al., 2013). The increasing competition between public and private hospitals in many countries lead consumers and other stakeholders to require better quality from such services, e.g., patient’s perceptions and expectations to meet what is delivered to them (Abuosi & Atinga, 2013). Usually, there is still much room for improvement in different areas of the healthcare system due to significant gaps between what a patient should receive and the care they do receive (Akins & Cole, 2013). Thus, assessing organizational performance regarding quality and management has become increasingly important (Giannini, 2015).
Although technology plays an essential role on organizational development, in knowledge-intensive industries, such as healthcare, human capital is the key for the growth and success of an organization. Human Resources Management (HRM) support the offer of intangible services provided by medical professionals that are related to emotions, satisfaction and intelligence (Permarupan et al., 2013; Yang & Lin, 2009). Employee satisfaction is positively associated with both customer satisfaction and financial performance (Akdere, 2009; Giannini, 2015). Enhancing organizational climate (employee’s involvement, accountability and synergies) promotes higher user-satisfaction (Giannini, 2015; Wienand et al., 2007).
Organizational climate and organizational culture are two concepts that are often utilized to understand how people experience and interpret their workplace. Organizational culture can be characterized as “the basic assumptions about the world and the values that guide life in organizations” and organizational climate can be defined as “the meanings people attach to interrelated bundles of experiences they have at work”. These are two intertwined constructs that directly affect the efficiency and effectiveness of any organization (Schneider et al., 2012).
A “proper” working environment implies good relationships among co-workers and vice versa (Loaiza et al., 2017). Besides, organizational climate is one of the major contributing factors to the exodus in the workforce (Myint et al., 2020). It results in a superior situation for both employees and patients. A better patient safety climate brings higher hospital outcomes and job satisfaction, which has influences on staff turnover (Goh et al., 2013). Wellbeing and good psychological climate of the workplace reduce the Burnout Syndrome (Stoyanov & Cloninger, 2012) and risk factors (Clarke et al., 2012) and an adequate organizational culture is an important diver of Infection Prevention and Control (IPC) (Borg et al., 2015; De Bono et al., 2014).
Most organizational climate assessment studies use qualitative methods (Malloy et al., 2009; Smollan & Sayers, 2009) and mixed-methods (Loewen & Loo, 2004; Roch et al., 2014). Still, quantitative survey methods prevail (Schneider et al., 2012) either for healthcare (Colla et al., 2005; Gershon et al., 2004) or other service areas (Davidson, 2003; Dimitriades, 2007). However, studies using multiple criteria decision making/aid (MCDM/A) are missing to evaluate organizational climate.