Praxis in healthcare OR: An empirical behavioural OR study

Operational researchers working in academia commonly struggle in attempts to influence practice and decision making in healthcare amid a growing recognition that behaviour is key to effective operational research (OR). To further our understanding of the behavioural factors that operational researchers working in healthcare consider influence their work’s impact, we interviewed 24 OR practitioners working in academia and with experience of working with the UK National Health Service (NHS). The semi-structured interviews were consented, recorded, transcribed, and analysed thematically using a framework approach. Five dominant themes emerged that highlighted: behavioural challenges concerning flexibility, pivoting and the abandonment of projects; the influence of the evolving ambitions, maturity and behaviours of a practitioner’s OR group; the hidden and changing motivations of host healthcare organisations; the reliance of practitioners on intuition and how their praxis is influenced by their agency within their group and its relationships with healthcare organisations; and how attributes of altruism, broader life experience and creative risk-taking influence an individuals’ praxis. In summary, we identified numerous behavioural factors considered important to success that operate within and across individual projects.