Factors Influencing Organizational Socialization of Employees in Iran's Healthcare System: Reorientation of Health Service and Development of Individual Skills

Socialization is a critical organizational process that significantly contributes to effectively adapting personnel into a new organization and playing a suitable role according to the Ottawa Charter, which is one of its important areas for promoting health, developing people's skills, and also reorienting health care services. This study aims to identify the influential factors that contribute to the organizational socialization process among employees inside the health system of Iran.

The current study is an exploratory sequential mixed-method that was conducted in 2022 among managers and personnel of the health system in Tabriz, Iran. The qualitative phase of the study employed a content analysis methodology, wherein a purposive sample technique was utilized to pick 16 managers and staff from the health system. During the quantitative phase, a study was devised and executed utilizing the Delphi technique to thoroughly assess and finalize the components derived from the initial stage. The third part of the study involved a cross-sectional examination employing a descriptive-analytical methodology to assess the indicated parameters. A total of 333 health system employees and administrators were surveyed using a questionnaire.

Organizational socialization of health system employees can be improved through increased awareness of employees, organizational planning, recruitment and retention of talented personnel, performance evaluation of employees, alignment of individual and organizational values, and increased organizational commitment. The results of structural equation modeling showed that organizational planning, employee awareness, individual-organizational values, recruitment and retention of talented staff, and increased organizational commitment had a significant effect on organizational socialization of the healthcare system employees by 9%, 13%, 15%, 11%, and 14%, respectively.

Socialization, as one of the most important organizational processes, can help managers and policymakers to facilitate and plan the process of empowering the employees and reorienting health-oriented processes based on health promotion approaches.