THE EVALUATION of MANAGERS’ PERCEPTIONS of OUTSOURCING in SUPPLY CHAIN MANAGEMENT: AN APPLICATION in HEALTH SECTOR

Purpose: The purpose of this study is to evaluate the managers’ perceptions of outsourcing in supply chain management in health sector. Methodology: A questionnaire has been applied to head physician, deputy head physicians, hospital managers and deputy managers of hospitals in totally 15 hospitals in Erzincan and Erzurum between November 2018 and January 2019 via e-mail and face-to-face interviews. Totally 105 questionnaires that were filled by hospital managers have been analyzed via SPSS 22 program. Findings: It is found that the managers mainly buy security services, cleaning services, cafeteria and catering from the others and they have mainly problems with supplier, which are basically about payment and tardiness. It is also concluded that many of the managers have been dissatisfied with suppliers and they have prioritized the reliability criteria in the selection of suppliers. Originality: Although there exist many studies about outsourcing in the literature, it is seen that there is a limited number of studies to guide managers especially on supplier relations and selection. In addition, studies evaluating the perceptions of health managers towards their suppliers in terms of outsourcing in the health sector are rare. Therefore, this study aims to provide solutions about the problems on the topic and fill the gap in the related literatüre.