RURAL HOSPITAL ADMINISTRATORS AND STRATEGIC MANAGEMENT ACTIVITIES

This study examines the association of characteristics of rural hospit al administrators and the adoption of seven strategic activities in a national sample of 797 U.S. rural hospitals during the period 1983-198 8. Based on the premise that managerial activities can affect organiza tional change, we test five hypotheses relating head administrator cha racteristics to strategic adaptation, controlling for environment-mark et and hospital-related variables. Bivariate analysis of the strategic adoption showed a positive association with administrative turnover a nd a negative association with head administrator age. Multivariate lo gistic regression showed that only high levels of turnover were associ ated with strategic activities, net of control variables. The implicat ions of these findings and the lack of predictive power of other rural hospital administrator characteristics-especially affiliation with th e American College of Healthcare Executives-are discussed within the c ontext of a ''strategic management policy'' for rural hospitals.