BMC Health Services Research (Jul 2024)

Factors associated with health CEO turnover - a scoping review

  • Nebu Varughese Mathew,
  • Chaojie Liu,
  • Hanan Khalil

DOI
https://doi.org/10.1186/s12913-024-11246-y
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 24, no. 1
pp. 1 – 13

Abstract

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Abstract Background Chief Executive Officer’s (CEO) are integral leaders of health care organisation. Over the last two decades in United States (US) hospitals, it has been noted that CEO turnover rates are increasing, and it was reported that the CEO turnover rates have augmented from 14% in 2008 to 18% in 2017 in the private sector. In Australia, it was discovered that during two years, 41 executives had 18 distinct positions. It has been highlighted that the increasing CEO turnover is a major issue for Australian and international health care organisations. Some of the negative consequences of CEO turnover include organisational instability, high financial costs, loss of human capital and adverse effects on staff morale and patient care. Objective Our scoping review aimed to map and summarise the evidence associated with CEO turnovers in both health and non-health setting, and answer the following questions: 1. What are the reasons for CEO departure?, 2. What are the strategies to minimise CEO turnover? Results A protocol explaining the objectives, inclusion criteria and methods for this scoping review were specified in advance and published. This scoping review included 17 studies (13 health and 4 non-health setting) published over a 31-year period that investigated and described the increasing CEO turnover rates. All 17 studies identified causes of CEO turnover along with certain studies identifying facilitators of CEO retention. We classified CEO’s departure reasons into three major themes: organizational, performance, and personal. Organisational factors include CEO departures due to issues within the organisation, performance factors include issues with CEO’s work and personal factors captures personal reasons for CEO’s leaving their job. Conclusion CEOs are under immense pressure to deliver good results and drive growth while satisfying the interests of internal and external stakeholders. There are various reasons for CEO’s departure however the most common factor identified is organisational.

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