ABSTRACT:- County referral hospitals play a crucial role in enhancing the accessibility of high-quality health services. This is achieved via the adoption of innovation strategies that contribute to their expansion and overall performance of the hospital. This study therefore evaluated the effect of marketing innovation strategies on organizational performance of county referral hospitals in Kenya. This study was anchored on innovation diffusion theory. The study employed descriptive research design and positivism research philosophy. Data was obtained from 47 referral county hospitals. The study focused on a total target population of 1800 respondents. The study employed purposive sampling utilizing Yamane’s formula to arrive at a sample population of 327 respondents. Questionnaires were used to collect primary data. Secondary data was be collected from hospital records. Data was analyzed using descriptive and inferential statistics. Correlational analysis and binary regression analysis were employed to analyze the influence of marketing innovation strategies on the organizational performance of county referral hospitals in Kenya. The study results indicated that marketing innovation strategies had negative and significant effect on operational cost ratio of county referral hospitals in Kenya hence improving its organizational performance. These results imply that adoption of marketing innovation strategies reduces operational cost of county referral hospitals hence improving organizational performance of the hospitals.

Key Words: Marketing innovation strategies, organizational performance & county referral hospitals.