U.S. Healthcare Provider Capabilities and Performance: the Mediating Roles of Service Innovation and Quality

摘要

Rapid advancements in information and communication technologies (1CT) combined with improvements in socioeconomic standards of living have led to an increase in consumers' demands for personal services in a variety of industries including healthcare. Despite the tremendous potential of Health Information Technology (HIT), the healthcare industry lags behind in the use of HIT to effectively deliver innovative services. In this study, we combine the capabilities perspective and an adapted Capability-Quality-Performance (CQP) model to investigate the roles service innovation and quality play in the relationship between a healthcare provider's IT-enabled capabilities and provider performance. We propose that IT-enabled capabilities by themselves do not lead to improved healthcare provider performance. It is how those capabilities are manipulated and utilized that determines the competitive advantage the healthcare provider can gain over its competitors. The theory-based model was empirically tested using a survey of 202 U.S. healthcare organizations. Results of exploratory hypotheses testing showed that service innovation and quality play significant roles in mediating the relationship between IT-enabled capabilities and healthcare provider performance.