Researching Organisational Behaviour in Health Care: Assessing the Contribution of Workforce

This paper examines the contribution of workforce research in the evolution and transformation of OB in health care as a field of academic inquiry. With a long tradition in its cognate disciplines, OB in health care is arguably a newer phenomenon. However, nearly a quarter of century after the OB in Health Care (OBHC) conferences started and two decades since the Journal of Health Organization and Management was first published, it is timely to take stock and assess the evolution and expansion of the field by examining the geographical location of scholars (who presented at OBHC and authored in JHOM), their gender, the methodologies adopted, and the theoretical perspectives taken. Areas of research on workforce are identified. We note the limitations of our analysis, but usefully identify areas that both explain and shape how the field could develop in future. Using a similar analysis undertaken by Reay and colleagues (2021), we note the continuing dangers of being detached or orphaned from parent disciplines, whilst also forging new inter-disciplinary research. Finally, we consider the future research directions for OB in health and care.