Revisiting human resource roles in Malaysian public hospitals

Abstract

Line managers play a significant role in the development of their subordinates. In regard to this matter, it is essential for nursing line managers (NLMs) to play pertinent roles as human resource (HR) in Malaysian healthcare services due to the critical nursing shortage. Therefore, this study aims to identify the level of HR roles namely strategic partner, change agent, administrative expert, and employee champion among NLMs. Data for this study was collected using a self-administered questionnaire involving 225 NLMs at six public hospitals located in the Klang Valley. Later, descriptive analysis performed to analyse the data obtained from the questionnaire. The results of this study revealed that there is a high level of HR roles within NLMs. On a more important note, the findings revealed a significant empirical evidence on the importance of HR roles among NLMs. Therefore, future paper on HR roles of line managers needs to be carried out further in the future, especially through different perspectives.