{"title":"Prospects of Integrating Gig Economy in the Saudi Arabian Health-care System from the Perspectives of Health-care Decision-makers and Practitioners.","authors":"Turki Alanzi","doi":"10.2147/JHL.S323729","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Background: </strong>Gig economy is an approach in the labor market which is characterized by the prevalence of short-term contracts or freelance work in contrast to permanent jobs. The gig workers are independent workers or temporary contract workers who enter into formal/informal agreements with on-demand companies to provide their services. Rather than employing full-time/permanent employees companies may utilize gig workers as per the demand and work burden, which can minimize the costs incurred in managing permanent employees. However, there is a lack of research on using gig economy in health care, its prospects and the issues involved.</p><p><strong>Purpose: </strong>The purpose of this study is to identify and evaluate various prospects in integrating gig economy with the Saudi health-care system.</p><p><strong>Methods: </strong>An online survey questionnaire instrument including 22 prospects under three categories including organizational competitiveness, resource management, and sustainable development was used for collecting data from 712 health-care decision-makers and practitioners in Saudi Arabia. Findings were analyzed using the statistical means and standard deviations for each item in the questionnaire for analyzing the role of each factor in depth, and <i>t</i>-tests were used for comparing the responses between the groups.</p><p><strong>Results: </strong><i>T</i>-tests revealed no significant differences among the experts and health-care workers in relation to organizational competitiveness and resource management; however, significant differences in opinions were identified in relation to sustainable development. Individual factors including motivation for Saudization program (mean=4.5, SD=1.15) and creating employment opportunities in rural areas (mean=4.5, SD=1.08), growth in economy (mean=4.4, SD=1.43), increased opportunities for women and disabled (mean=4.4, SD=1.28), and growth in employment (mean=4.3, SD=1.68) were the major prospects identified in relation to the use of gig economy in the Saudi Arabian health-care system.</p><p><strong>Conclusion: </strong>Gig economy may offer a wide range of benefits in health care, especially sustainable development, effective resource management, and organizational competitiveness.</p>","PeriodicalId":44346,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Healthcare Leadership","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":3.4000,"publicationDate":"2021-10-15","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://ftp.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pub/pmc/oa_pdf/f1/9d/jhl-13-255.PMC8526949.pdf","citationCount":"2","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Journal of Healthcare Leadership","FirstCategoryId":"1085","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.2147/JHL.S323729","RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":null,"ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"2021/1/1 0:00:00","PubModel":"eCollection","JCR":"Q1","JCRName":"HEALTH POLICY & SERVICES","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 2
Abstract
Background: Gig economy is an approach in the labor market which is characterized by the prevalence of short-term contracts or freelance work in contrast to permanent jobs. The gig workers are independent workers or temporary contract workers who enter into formal/informal agreements with on-demand companies to provide their services. Rather than employing full-time/permanent employees companies may utilize gig workers as per the demand and work burden, which can minimize the costs incurred in managing permanent employees. However, there is a lack of research on using gig economy in health care, its prospects and the issues involved.
Purpose: The purpose of this study is to identify and evaluate various prospects in integrating gig economy with the Saudi health-care system.
Methods: An online survey questionnaire instrument including 22 prospects under three categories including organizational competitiveness, resource management, and sustainable development was used for collecting data from 712 health-care decision-makers and practitioners in Saudi Arabia. Findings were analyzed using the statistical means and standard deviations for each item in the questionnaire for analyzing the role of each factor in depth, and t-tests were used for comparing the responses between the groups.
Results: T-tests revealed no significant differences among the experts and health-care workers in relation to organizational competitiveness and resource management; however, significant differences in opinions were identified in relation to sustainable development. Individual factors including motivation for Saudization program (mean=4.5, SD=1.15) and creating employment opportunities in rural areas (mean=4.5, SD=1.08), growth in economy (mean=4.4, SD=1.43), increased opportunities for women and disabled (mean=4.4, SD=1.28), and growth in employment (mean=4.3, SD=1.68) were the major prospects identified in relation to the use of gig economy in the Saudi Arabian health-care system.
Conclusion: Gig economy may offer a wide range of benefits in health care, especially sustainable development, effective resource management, and organizational competitiveness.
期刊介绍:
Efficient and successful modern healthcare depends on a growing group of professionals working together as an interdisciplinary team. However, many forces shape the delivery of healthcare; changes are being driven by the markets, transformations in concepts of health and wellbeing, technology and research and discovery. Dynamic leadership will guide these necessary transformations. The Journal of Healthcare Leadership is an international, peer-reviewed, open access journal focusing on leadership for the healthcare professions. The publication strives to amalgamate current and future healthcare professionals and managers by providing key insights into leadership progress and challenges to improve patient care. The journal aspires to inform key decision makers and those professionals with ambitions of leadership and management; it seeks to connect professionals who are engaged in similar endeavours and to provide wisdom from those working in other industries. Senior and trainee doctors, nurses and allied healthcare professionals, medical students, healthcare managers and allied leaders are invited to contribute to this publication