The Effect of Social Intelligence Levels on Decision-making Styles: A Research in Turkish Healthcare Managers

Objective: There is little information about the influence of social intelligence on decision making. The nature of decision-making is complex. Many factors influence it. Identifying these factors is important for making effective decisions. Social intelligence is an important factor which can influence decision-making style. This study was conducted to determine the effect of the social intelligence of healthcare managers on their decision-making style. Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted with 170 healthcare managers (physician, nurse, and administrative manager) from three public hospitals in Turkey. The analysis of the data was done by using SPSS 26 package program. In order to determine the relationships and effects between the variables, independent t-test, analysis of variance and simple linear regression analysis were performed. Results: The findings showed that the social intelligence of healthcare managers had a significant positive effect on rational decision-making style and a significant negative effect on dependent and avoidant decision-making style. Whereas healthcare managers with high social intelligence adopted rational style more in decision-making, they adopted dependent and avoidant style less. Conclusion: Rational decision-making is the most promising, functional and effective decision-making style for physician, nurse and administrative managers in the healthcare industry which includes intensive complexity. Social intelligence is an important concept for healthcare managers considering effective decision-making in the quality of patient care, outcomes, and managerial decisions. Healthcare managers with high social intelligence also tend to make rational decisions.