Strategic leadership and its influence on competitive advantage in strategic collaborations between universities and teaching hospitals in Kenya

Abstract

Kenya lags behind in the attainment of universal healthcare goals and targets despite envisioning
collaborations in healthcare as being critical to the realization of the universal health goals. The
general objective of the study was to establish the influence of strategic leadership on strategic
collaboration competitive advantage among universities and teaching hospitals in Kenya. This study
adopted a positivist philosophy and a descriptive cross sectional research design. The study population
comprised 10 universities and 10 teaching hospitals as approved by the Kenya Medical Practitioners
and Dentists Council, respectively. The census technique was deployed to make use of all the elements
in the population with primary data collected by use of a structured questionnaire, while secondary
data was collected using a document review guide. Frequencies, measures of central tendency and
dispersal were used in descriptive statistical analysis, while correlations, cross tabulations and ordinal
logistic regression were used for inferential statistical analysis. Ordinal logistic regression helped
determine the significance of relationships between the predictor and outcome variables. The study
established that strategic leadership was significant for collaboration competitive advantage.
Competitive advantage was operationalized using financial outcomes and learning and growth.
Strategic leadership was a significant predictor of financial outcomes in universities (β = 1.524, p <
0.05), teaching hospitals (β = 1.7, p < 0.05) and combined (β = 1.556, p < 0.05). Strategic leadership
was also a significant predictor of learning and growth in universities (β = 0.981, p < 0.05), teaching
hospitals (β = 1.186, p < 0.05) and combined (β = 1.037, p < 0.05).