Health Economics Unit, University of Cape Town, Cape Town, South Africa.
Int J Health Policy Manag. 2017 Jul 1;6(7):365-376. doi: 10.15171/ijhpm.2017.26.
The concept of decision space holds appeal as an approach to disaggregating the elements that may influence decision-making in decentralized systems. This narrative review aims to explore the functioning of decision space and the factors that influence decision space.
A narrative review of the literature was conducted with searches of online databases and academic journals including PubMed Central, Emerald, Wiley, Science Direct, JSTOR, and Sage. The articles were included in the review based on the criteria that they provided insight into the functioning of decision space either through the explicit application of or reference to decision space, or implicitly through discussion of decision-making related to organizational capacity or accountability mechanisms.
The articles included in the review encompass literature related to decentralisation, management and decision space. The majority of the studies utilise qualitative methodologies to assess accountability mechanisms, organisational capacities such as finance, human resources and management, and the extent of decision space. Of the 138 articles retrieved, 76 articles were included in the final review.
The literature supports Bossert's conceptualization of decision space as being related to organizational capacities and accountability mechanisms. These functions influence the decision space available within decentralized systems. The exact relationship between decision space and financial and human resource capacities needs to be explored in greater detail to determine the potential influence on system functioning.
决策空间的概念作为一种方法，将可能影响分散系统决策的因素进行分解，具有吸引力。本叙述性综述旨在探讨决策空间的运作方式以及影响决策空间的因素。
对在线数据库和学术期刊（包括 PubMed Central、Emerald、Wiley、Science Direct、JSTOR 和 Sage）中的文献进行了叙述性综述。根据以下标准，将文章纳入综述：明确应用或参考决策空间，或通过讨论与组织能力或问责机制相关的决策，提供对决策空间运作的深入了解。
综述中包含的文章涵盖了与权力下放、管理和决策空间相关的文献。大多数研究采用定性方法来评估问责机制、财务、人力资源和管理等组织能力以及决策空间的程度。从检索到的 138 篇文章中，有 76 篇文章被纳入最终综述。
文献支持 Bossert 将决策空间概念化为与组织能力和问责机制相关。这些功能影响分散系统中可用的决策空间。需要更详细地探讨决策空间与财务和人力资源能力之间的关系，以确定其对系统功能的潜在影响。
