Environmental Scanning and Competitive Advantage of Social Healthcare Services in Kogi State, Nigeria

Abstract

Competitive advantage is a type of distinction that gives the organization something of positive advancement and distinction over workers in the same sector or industry, and that this does not mean continuity for a specific period but rather the continuation to an indefinite period, with the goal of the organization being to continue and repeat the preservation it must. In spite of various environmental strategies and performance measures by managers, majority of health care facilities in Nigeria still experience decline in competitive advantage resulting from poor application of environmental scanning measures to envisage and outsmart their counterparts in the market over the services rendered. Stakeholders must make sure that their performance is connected to planning if the healthcare sector is to reach its potential. Thus, the aim of the this is to examine the effect of environmental scanning affect the competitive advantage of selected health care facilities in Kogi State, Nigeria.  A cross-sectional survey research design was used in the study. The study employed a survey research method, which involved 162 top management level employees from sixselected health care facilities in Kogi State, Nigeria. The total enumeration method was adopted in order to use the whole population for the study as sample. A reliability analysis was carried out to determine the internal consistency level of the questionnaire to be used in the study. The reliability for each of these variables was determined using Cronbach alpha coefficient and composite reliability and the least value for each of the variables started from 0.7 and above. The examination process was carried out using both descriptive and inferential statistics, executed using SPSS version 27. Findings revealed that environmental scanning have a significant effect on the competitive advantage of selected health care facilities in Kogi State, Nigeria(β = 0.586, t = 7.079, p < 0.05). This study concludes that environmental scanning has a significant effect on competitive advantage of selected health care facilities in Kogi State, Nigeria.  

Keywords: Environmental scanning, Competitive Advantage, Organizational Performance, Top management.