Online Health Communities:Implications for Service Innovation in Health Care Organizations
As the intensity of competition continues to increase in the health care industry, health-care organizations (HCO) have started seeking out innovative and cost-effective ways to better serve their patients and to establish stronger relationships with them. Some health care organizations have already realized the significance of online patient community as a form of service innovation, i. e. as a complementary health care resource to enhance the overall quality of health care services delivery. In this study, I propose and validate a model that examines how HCOs can utilize online customer communities as a knowledge management ( KM) and customer relationship management ( CRM) tool-and, thereby deliver an overall positive experience to patients as well as shape patients attitudes towards the HCO and its services. I advance a new construct, online community experience (OCE) , to enhance our understanding of customers interaction experience in such online communities. This study adopts a multi-disciplinary approach and draws on theories in knowledge management, customer relationship management, and communication to identify the critical antecedents of OCE. I present hypotheses that relate KM and CRM-based variables to the OCE construct as well as those that relate the OCE construct to customer attitudes and their overall well-being. Data collected from a health services center (CHESS) at UW-Madison is employed to validate the research model. The study findings are expected to hold important implications for service innovation in HCOs, particularly with regard to their KM practices and their CRM strategies.
Healthcare Management Service Innovation Online Community Experience Knowledge Management
Priya Nambisan
University at Albany,USA
国际会议
Academy of Innovation and Entrepreneurship 2008(创新与创业国际学术会议)
北京
英文
324-328
2008-03-01（万方平台首次上网日期，不代表论文的发表时间）