Instrument
The instrument consisted of three parts. Part I was a demographic data with
yes-no questions and fill-in the blank, part II was a 60-item questionnaire related
to the the impact of AEC (EI-AEC) on healthcare service as expected by directors
of hospitals and by directors of nursing which was developed by researchers based
on Westley and Mintzberg’s visionary leadership and strategy management2 (1989).
The expectation to the impact identified as positive impact (score=2) and negative
impact (score=1) and no impact (score=0). The high score refers to high impact of
each item. Part III was a 58-item-questionnaire regarding the intention to formulate
strategic planning (IFSP) for preparation toward the AEC of directors of hospitals
and of directors of nursing, which was developed by the researchers based on
Anspaugh, Dignan, & Anspaugh’s theory of reasoned action3 (2000). The part
III scale was a Likert scale with score ranging from 1-5; 1 refers to the lowest
intention to formulate the strategic plan, and score 5 refers to the highest intention
to formulate the strategic plan. The instrument part II and part III were tested
for content validity by three experts and revealed a value of CVI = .81 and .81
respectively, and test the reliability with a group of 24 administrators yielding values
of Cronbach’s alpha coefficient as 0.86 and 0.92 respectively. The interpretation of
the instrument part III was as follow: 1.00-2.33 means the DHs/DNs had intention
to formulate the strategic plan at a low level, 2.34-3.67 means the DHs/DNs had
intention to formulate the strategic plan at a moderate level, 3.68-5.00 means the
DHs/DNs had intention to formulate the strategic plan at a high level. The questionnaires
were sent directly to the DHs and DNs with a written consent form as well as
a returned-envelope to the principle investigator. Data were collected three months
from January-March 2013.
Data analysis
The demographic data were analyzed using frequency, percentage, mean
and standard deviation; Part II: The EI-AEC was analyzed by percentage, and Part
III: the IFSP was analyzed by mean and standard deviation. The rate of returned
questionnaires from directors of hospitals was 67 from 85 which was 78.82%, and
that from directors of nursing was 81 from 85 which was 95.29 %