Introduction: The current health system suffers from major problems and gaps in the field of management and leadership competencies. Identifying and developing potential managers to train successful future leaders can bridge this gap. The overall purpose of the present study was to investigate the impact of knowledge-based leadership on scientific authority in Macro medical universities of region 1.
Methods: The study, conducted in 2020, applied an exploratory design with a mixed (qualitative and quantitative) approach. In the qualitative part, the Delphi method was used with the statistical population of professors of macro medical universities in region one, summing up to 20 people, of whom 13 people were selected by purposive sampling method; and in the quantitative part with a descriptive approach, the statistical population comprised managers, deputies, faculties, department heads and faculty members of the macro-medical universities of region 1 (1851 subjects), of which 320 were selected using the stratified random sampling based on the university unit and based on the Cochranchr('39')s formula. To collect data, a researcher-made questionnaire on knowledge-based leadership with 91 questions and a scientific authority questionnaire with 60 questions were used. Exploratory factor analysis, confirmatory factor analysis and structural equations were used to analyze the data using SPSS20 and PLS3.2 software.
Results: After performing the combination of indicators, 118 indicators were identified and approved in two dimensions. In the individual and organizational dimensions, the behaviors of knowledge-based leaders and their structural role had the first ranks among other components, respectively. Findings showed that knowledge-based leadership was related to scientific authority with the standard coefficient of 0/845 and T-statistic of 24/492.
Conclusion: According to the research findings, the effect of knowledge-based leadership with both individual and organizational dimensions on the scientific authority of medical universities was meaningful, positive and significant.