Health and Social Care Managers' Competence in Knowledge Management Instrument: Development and Validation

Background: The knowledge management (KM) competence of health and social care managers is essential for organizations to achieve and maintain competitiveness. The study aimed to develop and validate the Managers' Competence in Knowledge Management (MCKM) instrument, which assesses health and social care MCKM. Methods: The study followed four phases: (1) items of the instrument were created based on a conceptual framework; (2) the content validity index was assessed by 11 experts. After that, 11 managers provided feedback on the instrument by participating in the pilot study; (3) the construct validity was examined with exploratory factor analysis (EFA); and (4) internal consistency was established with Cronbach's alpha. The data were collected from 116 Finnish managers during two separate periods in February and August 2022. Results: The overall S-CVI for the MCKM instrument was 0.83. EFA revealed a five-factor model for the MCKM instrument, containing 43 items, which explained 72% of the observed variance. The factors' Cronbach's α coefficient ranged from 0.913 to 0.964. The instrument development and validation process resulted in five factors: planning competence development and cooperation, managing a culture of competence, anticipating and defining competence, developing competence, and assessing competence. Items are scored on a Likert scale of 1-5. Conclusions: The instrument gave valid and reliable results in psychometric testing. It is suitable for self-assessment of competence in KM among health and social care managers. Practice Implications: Examining the KM competence of health and social care managers is vital for addressing unforeseen competence and knowledge challenges.