Exploring health information system resilience during COVID-19 pandemic: case studies from Norway, Sri Lanka & Rwanda

The study aims at exploring health system resilience by defining the scope on health information systems, one of the six building blocks of the health system. The empirical evidence is derived using qualitative data collection and analysis in the context of Norway, Sri Lanka and Rwanda during the COVID-19 pandemic. The case studies elicit bounce back and bounce forward properties as well as the agility as major attributes of resilience present across the countries. Existing local capacity, networking and collaborations, flexible digital platforms and enabling antecedent conditions are identified as socio-technical determinants of information system resilience based on the case studies across the countries.

The sequential effect of absorptive capacity, strategic agility, and sustainable competitive advantage on sustainable business performance of SMEs

A company's environmental sensitivity primarily depends on its sustainability. Hence, investigating the factors that affect sustainable business performance contributes to the literature on the environment. Based on a resource-based view, dynamic capabilities, and contingency theory, this study examines the sequential relationships between the absorptive capacity, strategic agility, sustainable competitive advantage, and sustainable business performance of small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), as well as the mediating role of sustainable competitive advantage in the relationship between strategic agility and sustainable business performance. The data for the study was collected from 421 SMEs operating as family businesses and analyzed using SEM. Research findings show that the sub-dimensions of absorptive capacity, acquisition, and exploitation affect strategic agility; strategic agility affects sustainable competitive advantage, and sustainable competitive advantage affects sustainable business performance. In addition to these sequential relationships, sustainable competitive advantage was found to play a full mediating role in the relationship between strategic agility and sustainable business performance. The findings of the study highlight the process to achieve sustainable performance for SMEs, which are the backbone of developing economies in today's highly turbulent economic conditions.

Impacts of IT capability and supply chain collaboration on supply chain resilience: empirical evidence from China in COVID-19 pandemic

Purpose

Building supply chain resilience is increasingly recognized as an effective strategy to deal with supply chain challenges, risks and disruptions. Nevertheless, it remains unclear how to build supply chain resilience and whether supply chain resilience could achieve a competitive advantage.

Design/methodology/approach

By analyzing the data collected from 216 firms in China, the current study empirically examines how information technology (IT) capability and supply chain collaboration affect different forms of supply chain resilience (external resilience and internal resilience) and examines the performance implications of these two forms of supply chain resilience.

Findings

Results show that IT capability is positively related to external resilience, whereas supply chain collaboration is positively related to internal resilience. The combination of IT capability and supply chain collaboration is positively related to external resilience. In addition, internal resilience is positively related to firm performance.

Research limitations/implications

This study used only cross-sectional data from China for hypothesis testing. Future studies could utilise longitudinal data and research other countries/regions.

Practical implications

The findings systematically assess how IT capability and supply chain collaboration contribute to supply chain resilience and firm performance. The results provide a benchmark of supply chain resilience improvement that can be expected from IT capability and supply chain collaboration.

Originality/value

The study findings advance the understanding of supply chain resilience and provide practical implications for supply chain managers.

Electronic health records using a resource advantage theory perspective: an interdisciplinary literature review

Purpose

Warren Buffett asserted that the greatest issue confronting American business and the economy is rising health-care costs, which have risen to 17% of gross domestic product. Public policymakers, health-care providers and other stakeholders grapple with cost-containment and increased health-care delivery efficiencies. There exists a paucity of theory-driven research addressing how information technology vis-à-vis electronic health records (EHR) may supply a managerial mechanism for increasing bottom-line hospital performance, thereby attaining competitive advantage.

Design/methodology/approach

A systematic interdisciplinary literature review motivated by resource advantage theory (RAT) offers a conceptual foundation for analyzing the financial, informational and physical workflows that are core elements of supply chain management in a hospital.

Findings

RAT links how EHR impacts profitability, competitive advantage and macromarketing factors in hospital supply chains. The literature review provides a research synthesis of the implementation and adoption of EHR to reveal its impact on a hospital’s competitive advantage. Although legislative initiatives like the 2009 Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health Act and the Affordable Care Act encourage EHR adoption, there remains a reluctance for hospitals to do so.

Originality/value

The extant literature precedes the relevant legislation, has incomplete data or focuses solely on patient outcomes.

Organizational crisis preparedness during the COVID-19 pandemic: an investigation of dynamic capabilities and organizational agility roles

Purpose

While there is a consensus that dynamic capabilities (DC) and organizational agility are two key mechanisms that help firms to survive and cope with the environment’s dynamic change and uncertainties, little is known about their roles in leveraging firms’ preparedness to overcome organizational crises during turbulent contexts such as the COVID-19. The purpose of this study is twofold. This paper first analyzes the direct relationship between DC and organizational agility dimensions (i.e. customer, operational and partnering agilities). Second, this paper investigates the direct link between organizational agility dimensions and a firm’s organizational crisis preparedness.

Design/methodology/approach

Based on a survey of Moroccan firms administrated during the early stage of the COVID-19 pandemic, a theoretically derived model was tested using partial least squares structural equation modeling.

Findings

The results show that DC are significantly related to the three types of agility and that only customer and operational agility affect organizational crisis preparedness.

Originality/value

This research provides new insights into crisis management literature by introducing and empirically examining the impact of DC and organizational agility in addressing global crises such as the COVID-19 pandemic.

Information Technology Ambidexterity, Digital Dynamic Capability, and Knowledge Processes as Enablers of Patient Agility: Empirical Study

BACKGROUND

There is a limited understanding of information technology's (IT) role as an enabler of patient agility and the department's ability to respond to patients' needs and wishes adequately.

OBJECTIVE

This study aims to contribute to the insights of the validity of the hypothesized relationship among IT resources, practices and capabilities, and hospital departments' knowledge processes, and the department's ability to adequately sense and respond to patient needs and wishes (ie, patient agility).

METHODS

This study conveniently sampled data from 107 clinical hospital departments in the Netherlands and used structural equation modeling for model assessment.

RESULTS

IT ambidexterity positively enhanced the development of a digital dynamic capability (β=.69; t4999=13.43; P<.001). Likewise, IT ambidexterity also positively impacted the hospital department's knowledge processes (β=.32; t4999=2.85; P=.005). Both digital dynamic capability (β=.36; t4999=3.95; P<.001) and knowledge processes positively influenced patient agility (β=.33; t4999=3.23; P=.001).

CONCLUSIONS

IT ambidexterity promotes taking advantage of IT resources and experiments to reshape patient services and enhance patient agility.

Interdependencies between knowledge management and academic performance in higher educational institutions

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to examine the interdependent relationship between knowledge management and the academic performance of faculty members in higher educational institutions (HEIs) in Nepal.

Design/methodology/approach

This study applied survey research to identify the interdependencies between knowledge management and academic performance in the context of HEIs. The data were collected from the 445-academic staff of four different universities of Nepal by using the self-constructed questionnaire, using Delphi methods. Factor analysis was applied to identify the dimensions of knowledge management and academic performance and canonical correlation analysis was applied to examine the interdependent relationship between dimensions of knowledge management and academic performance.

Findings

The factor analysis explored the following seven dimensions of knowledge management: knowledge utilization, acquisition, generation, dissemination, transfer, creation and presentation and four dimensions of academic performance as research and publication, innovation, interactive learning and capacity building. The analysis of canonical correlation showed the interdependent relationship between knowledge utilization, acquisition, generation and dissemination with research, publication and capacity building; knowledge creation with innovation; and knowledge transfer and presentation with interactive learning.

Practical implications

This study was carried out based on the day-to-day practices and perceptions of the faculty members of four different universities in Nepal. The changing context of global practices in academia, organizational structure and thoughts of faculty members are changing rapidly. It demands the practical aspects of transferring tacit knowledge to explicit one to enhance intellectual capital of individual.

Originality/value

In a country such as Nepal, the concept of knowledge management is in an emerging stage and has been applied to some financial institutions so far. In this context, this paper presents a study that was carried out to explore the interdependence of knowledge management practices in HEIs to enhance academic activities and discourses. The knowledge management further strengthen the intellectual capital of individual and institution and impacts on overall development of knowledge economy of nation.

Analysis of Practices to Increase the Workforce Agility and to Develop a Sustainable and Competitive Business

The current business environment is volatile and complex. Companies must constantly identify creative and environmentally friendly solutions. The emphasis on employees and workforce agility has become an attribute of sustainable and competitive organizations simultaneously. The purpose of our study is to validate the hypothesis that there is a direct positive relationship between ranking as important top position of human resources in a company and the extent to which specific practices to increase workforce agility were adopted. Our survey is based on an original questionnaire, with a 92% response rate. We focused on large, independent decision-making companies from Western Romania, for which the implementation of sustainable principles is more difficult than for multinationals. The statistical analysis was performed using SPSS23 (Statistical Package for the Social Sciences). The results indicate an average extent of the adoption of management practices aiming to increase workforce agility (45%) and a ranking of human resources in first place as the most important resource (31.7%). Using the Pearson Chi-Square Test, the hypothesis was confirmed (significance = 0.026). Our main conclusion is that if managers intend to develop a sustainable and competitive business, they should attribute a strategic role to employees and adopt practices to increase their agility.

Information technology competency and organizational agility: roles of absorptive capacity and information intensity

Purpose

Scholars have examined the possible relationship between information technology (IT) and organizational agility. Although the general-level effect of IT is undisputed, empirical research on how different types of IT contribute to various aspects of organizational agility remains scarce. Therefore, this study aims to propose an integrated framework of internal capability and external environment to address this research gap.

Design/methodology/approach

This study investigates the potential mediating effects of absorptive capacity and the moderating effects of information intensity in the IT‒agility relationship. With a dataset comprising 165 organizations in China, this work provides empirical evidence that the effects of absorptive capacity and information intensity are multifaceted and nuanced, thereby revealing the latent mechanisms of IT competency and organizational agility.

Findings

Absorptive capacity partially mediates the effects of IT knowledge and IT operations on market capitalizing agility and fully mediates their effects on operational adjustment agility. However, no direct or indirect effects of IT objects are found on both types of organizational agility. Information intensity also positively moderates the effects of IT operations and IT objects on absorptive capacity. However, no significant moderation is found with regard to IT operations.

Originality/value

This study provides novel insights by demonstrating clearly the different mediating roles of absorptive capacity in the relationship among various types of IT competency and diverse aspects of organizational agility. This work also underscores the moderating role of information intensity in shaping absorptive capacity through IT competency.

Mobile health service adoption in China

Purpose

Mobile health service (MHS) can provide users with convenient health services and information to reduce their medical costs from aging or other health issues. Previous studies confirm the underdevelopment of the Chinese MHS. The purpose of this paper is to analyze the factors that affect the intention to use MHS.

Design/methodology/approach

This paper develops a research model that integrates personal health differences with theory of planned behavior (TPB) and protection motivation theory (PMT). This model is empirically tested using data from 494 valid questionnaires. Structural equation modeling is used to test the hypotheses.

Findings

Perceived vulnerability to disease, perceived severity of disease, response efficacy and self-efficacy positively affect attitude, thereby exerting a positive influence on the behavioral intention to use MHS. Subjective norms also influence users’ behavioral intention. Personal health status and personal health value have quasi-moderating effects on the relationship between attitude and behavioral intention.

Originality/value

This paper presents an early attempt to conceptualize and validate a research model of MHS acceptance by integrating TPB and PMT in a complementary manner. The integrated model provides a holistic view of people’s intention to use MHS by considering health threat beliefs, individual role (i.e. attitude and self-efficacy) and social influences (i.e. subjective norms). Furthermore, this research highlights the role of two individual health characteristics (i.e. personal health status and personal health value) in MHS adoption. These new findings are beneficial toward an in-depth understanding of technology adoption in the MHS context.

Paving the path toward strategic agility

Purpose

For organizations competing in volatile environments, strategic agility is the key for sustaining in the market. It is essential for such organizations to identify the main agility indicators that contribute to their strategic core. The purpose of this paper is to propose and test a systematic methodology that identifies key agility indicators through prioritization and establishing the intra- and inter-relationships among them.

Design/methodology/approach

The methodology consists of four phases. Phase I forms a pool of agility key performance indicators (KPIs). Phase II categorizes and ranks the KPIs based on their importance and the gap that exists between their current and desired level. Using interpretive structural modeling, phase III establishes the intra-relationships among the KPIs as well as agility attributes, agility enablers and improvement paths, collectively referred to as agility indicators. Finally, phase IV analyzes the inter-relationships among agility indicators using three consecutive houses of quality.

Findings

To demonstrate the capability of the proposed methodology, it was applied to a dairy food company operating in a competitive environment. The application could address the shortcomings of previous agility methodologies and helped the company to assign resources to the right agility indicators with the highest influence on strategic agility.

Research limitations/implications

The methodology was applied to a single organization only. The application does not include long-term post-implementation observations and measurement of strategic agility.

Practical implications

Practitioners can benefit from the methodology to identify the right agility indicators of their organization and assign organizational resources for the improvement of such indicators. The methodology ensures selecting indicators that contribute to organization’s strategic agility, although ostensibly seem unrelated.

Originality/value

The paper contributes to the literature of strategic and organizational agility by proposing a systematic methodology that considers both intra- and inter-relationships among agility indicators. The methodology also makes a decent contribution in addressing organizational ambidexterity by analyzing mutually exclusive indicators pertaining to current and future opportunities for the organization.

Information Systems Capabilities and Customer Capital: A Multiple Mediation Model

Many studies uphold information systems (IS) capabilities as a key factor in creating customer capital. This study explores this topic further by proposing a multiple mediation model. Hence, the study fills a conspicuous gap in the literature through its analysis of the mediating roles of green innovation product and environmental uncertainty. The study employs partial least square variance-based structural equation modeling to a sample of 425 participants from a variety of firms. From the findings of the study, we infer that green innovation performance — to a greater extent — and environmental uncertainty — to a lesser extent — play mediating roles between IS capabilities and customer capital.

Information technology capability, knowledge management capability, and organizational agility: The role of environmental factors

This study precisely investigates the relationship of information technology (IT) and knowledge management (KM) capabilities with organizational agility along with the moderating influence of external environmental actors on this linkage. A matched-pair field survey was conducted and pretested structured questionnaires were administered to accumulate primary responses from 300 business and IT personnel working in various Indian financial groups. The research findings encompass first, IT and KM capabilities are enablers of organizational agility, while KM capability is more effective on agility. Second, a more diverse and less hostile environment is required for IT and KM capabilities to have more positive influence on agility, yet the moderating effects of environmental factors are found to be more on IT–agility linkage than on KM–agility relationship. These inferences provide several implications for the business and IT executives to concentrate on leveraging both IT and KM capabilities for generating augmented organizational agility.

Impact of Organizational Culture Values on Organizational Agility

To remain competitive within the current, uncertain business scenario, it is vital for firms to develop capabilities that lead them to adapt and offer quick responses to market changes. Under the dynamic capabilities view of the firm, this paper proposes a model that presents an exhaustive analysis of two relevant research gaps: (i) the underlying relationships that determine the impact exerted by each of the four organizational culture typologies, comprised in Cameron and Quinn’s Competing Values Framework on organizational agility and, (ii) the contingency effect exerted by a key environmental factor, the industry’s technology intensity. An empirical study is performed to test the relationships proposed, using data collected from 172 Spain-based companies. To examine the contingency effect of technology intensity, the sample is divided into two subsamples, high and medium tech companies. This work uses partial least squares path-modeling, a variance-based structural equations modeling technique, in order to test and validate the research model and hypotheses posited. In addition, thorough analyses are carried out to assess the predictive performance of our model.