Social responsibility of hospitals: an Indian context

The Effect of Health Evolution Plan on Health System Responsiveness: An Experience of Health System Reform from Iran

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of the Health Evolution Plan (HEP) on Health System Responsiveness (HSR) in hospitals of Hamadan, Iran. Data were collected before and after the implementation of the HEP by interviewing hospital inpatient referrals about factors relating to responsiveness. The difference between the mean responsiveness scores before (2014) and after (2018) implementation of the HEP was not significant. The study findings demonstrate that, even though one of the most important goals of the HEP was the improvement of HSR, the responsiveness of hospitals was unchanged.

Development and validation of a multi-dimensional customer-based scale to measure perceptions of corporate social responsibility (CSR)

Purpose

Based on a review of previous literature that revealed a gap in the measurement of corporate social responsibility (CSR) from a customer perspective. The purpose of this study is to propose a multi-dimensional scale to measure customer perceptions of CSR.

Design/methodology/approach

Using a systematic development process, the scale items were generated through the review of CSR literature and the opinion of academic experts. The scale was validated using data collected from 393 customers of telecom industry. Data were initially subjected to exploratory factor analysis to identify the underlying scale dimensions. Confirmatory factor analysis was also conducted to validate the scale, test for reliability, convergent and discriminant validity.

Findings

The resulting scale is compounded of 30 items that load on five dimensions: developmental, ethical, relationship-building, responsiveness and information-sharing responsibilities.

Practical implications

The proposal of reliable measurement tools for evaluating customer perceptions is especially relevant for companies because of their significant role in influencing the design and implementation of corporate actions. The multi-dimensional scale developed in this study helps scholars and practitioners to better understand customer perceptions of the CSR actions that companies implement to improve these stakeholders’ satisfaction. In doing so, the scale is especially useful for companies to measure how well they respond to customer needs in their daily routines.

Originality/value

There is a significant lack of research into the development of reliable and valid tools to measure CSR from a customer perspective. The contribution of this study focuses on the identification of the five dimensions that determine CSR toward customers while it also provides a detailed scale to measure customer perceptions of these CSR dimensions.

Key barriers in the growth of rural health care: an ISM-MICMAC approach

Purpose

The health care industry has experienced vibrant growth since the last few decades. Total health care business has reached more than US$160bn in the country and is still growing, but sustainable growth of industry is a major area of concern. An unsustainable and uneven growth might contribute in growth presently, but will not help in the long run due to extinction in future. The paper aims to discuss this issue.

Design/methodology/approach

The research has been divided into two phases to analyze the barriers to achieve sustainable growth, i.e., identification of barriers and their analysis. The study has used three different research phases: identification of barriers from the literature, interviews with experts of industry and designing an ISM model. The identification phase led to the selection of 19 barriers from literature and by suggestions from industrial experts. The interpretive structural modeling (ISM) analysis was used to understand the impact and linkage of identified barriers. The barriers are further classified into four major categories on the basis of drive power and dependence power using “Matrices d’Impacts Croises Multiplication. Appliqué a un Classement” analysis.

Findings

The present research identifies 19 barriers in the field of growth of health care mainly in rural area with 11 levels in ISM-designed model. Barriers such as lack of awareness, medical mistrust, cost/benefit, transportation, high out of pocket expenditure, lack of health insurance, medical unawareness and the cultural dimension (traditional beliefs) have very high dependency power. These variables are highly influenced by other barriers. Barriers such as low outreach (geographical reach), information and communication, insufficient capacity planning, and highest growth in population have very high driving and dependence power. They have a very high impact on the system as any change in them will have a direct impact on others. Remaining seven selected barriers have a very high driving power and they are generally independent in nature and have less impact on the system as whole.

Social implications

This study seeks to identify which barrier is acting as the most dominant one and this result is helpful for policy-makers to achieve goals of National Health Mission (NHM) by removing the dominant barrier.

Originality/value

Total health care business reaches more than US$160bn in the country and is still growing, but sustainable growth of industry is a major area of concern. This paper is one of the preliminary attempts to identify which barrier is acting as the most dominant one and this result is helpful for policy-makers to achieve the goals of NHM by removing the dominant barrier.

Examining the mediating role of organizational trust in the relationship between CSR practices and job outcomes

Purpose

The purpose of this study is to examine the relationship between perceived corporate social responsibility (CSR) and employees’ job outcomes, namely, work engagement and organizational citizenship behavior (OCB) in select Indian manufacturing firms. This study also aims to measure the mediating effect of organizational trust in the above link.

Design/methodology/approach

Based on the stakeholder theory of CSR, the proposed model was tested using data from 284 employees across eight manufacturing firms in South India extensively involved in CSR activities. Data were analyzed using hierarchical regression techniques.

Findings

Significant positive association between CSR activities toward only three stakeholders (employees, customers and environment) and the outcome variables (work engagement and OCB) were observed. Organizational trust partially mediated the relationship between CSR activities and job outcomes. Findings reveal that organizational trust is the underlying mechanism by which organization’s involvement in CSR activities positively influences job outcomes. The implications are discussed along the lines of the findings.

Originality/value

Substantial macro-level research studies are available linking CSR activities with tangible outcomes, such as financial outcomes. Literature suggests the need for more research on CSR at the micro level i.e., how CSR practices affect the attitude, behavior, well-being and work engagement of employees. This study also addressed the important research gap by considering the stakeholder theory of CSR in a non-western context. Moreover, the mechanism through which CSR relates to employees’ job-related outcomes is relatively underexplored. Therefore, the current study captured the role of organizational trust as a mediator.

The impact of total quality service (TQS) on healthcare and patient satisfaction: an empirical study of Turkish private and public hospitals

This paper attempts to measure patients' perceptions of the quality of services in public and private healthcare centers in Turkey. The main aim was to examine the impact of the dimensions of patient-perceived total quality service (TQS) on patients' satisfaction. The research framework and hypotheses are derived from a literature review of service quality and quality in the healthcare industry. The research data were collected through questionnaires and then statistically analyzed using descriptive statistics, Pearson product moment correlation and linear regression. The results suggest that service quality perceptions positively influence patient satisfaction with overall hospital care (SOHC). The most important factors identified in the regression model regarding patient SOHC are the quality of the hospital's social responsibility, administrative processes and overall experience of medical care received. These factors explain 74% of the variance in SOHC. The findings of the study can be used to improve TQS in both private and public hospitals.