The mediating role of organizational ambidexterity in the effect of perceived environmental uncertainty on performance

Hospitals need to improve their ability to adapt to changes in the environment in order to be effective and efficient while meeting today's healthcare demands. Hospitals can successfully continue their activities by following environmental changes carefully, and developing and also implementing strategies suitable for these changes. At this point, it is important for the management to perceive the environmental changes correctly and to give appropriate answers to the change. High environmental uncertainty, which prevents the correct perception of environmental change and giving an appropriate response, can cause hospitals to make wrong decisions and decrease organizational performance. An important feature that emerges here is to have a critical ability called organizational ambidexterity in order to adapt to environmental change and competitive conditions and to reach the targeted performance level. The aim of the study, which was created from this context, is to reveal the relationship between the perception of environmental uncertainty, organizational performance, and organizational ambidexterity. In addition, the mediating role of organizational ambidexterity in the effect of environmental uncertainty perception on organizational performance is also investigated in the study. In this study, which is planned for these purposes, answers are sought to the questions of why hospitals should follow environmental changes, what are the advantages and disadvantages in this regard, and why organizational ambidexterity strategies are necessary to achieve higher performance. In the study, which was designed as quantitative research, the data were collected with a survey form. The survey form consists of the socio-demographic characteristics of the participants and the Environmental Uncertainty Perception Scale developed by Desarbo et al. (2005), the Organizational Ambidexterity Scale developed by Bodwell (2011), and the Organizational Performance Scale developed by Acar and Acar (2014). The universe of the study consists of 298 people working in 61 Ministry of Health hospitals operating in the Black Sea Region, as well as 58 people working in 3 university hospitals and 106 people working in 16 private hospitals, a total of 462 managers. The study, it was aimed to reach all managers without selecting a sample. However, the sample of the study consisted of 266 managers who agreed to participate in the study and were reached by convenience sampling method. Validity and reliability analyzes of the data were made. Exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis were used for validity analysis, and Cronbach's alpha coefficient was used for reliability analysis. Descriptive statistics, correlation analysis, and path analysis were used in the analysis of the data. Data were analyzed at a 95% confidence interval (p=0,05). According to the findings, there are positive relationships between environmental uncertainty perception, organizational performance, and organizational ambidexterity. Environmental uncertainty perception has a positive effect on organizational ambidexterity, and organizational ambidexterity has a positive effect on organizational performance. On the other hand, the perception of environmental uncertainty does not have a significant effect on organizational performance. In addition, the mediating role of organizational ambidexterity in the effect of environmental uncertainty perception on organizational performance has been determined. According to the results of the study, hospitals, which have to operate in a dynamic environment that is constantly changing, need to make appropriate decisions to improve their performance, and to ensure this, they need to consider organizational ambidexterity strategies. Finally, it is recommended that hospitals operating in environmental uncertainty and intense competition apply organizational ambidexterity strategies in order to use their own talents.