Investigating factors of intellectual capital to enhance achievement of strategic goals in a university hospital setting

Abstract

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to report on an action research project carried out in an Italian university hospital that was facing a strategic challenge. The role of intellectual capital (IC) for university hospital strategic management is discussed after developing and applying an IC framework to enhance the visualisation of strategic IC elements. Design/methodology/approach – An action research process has been applied in the studied setting based on Susman and Evered’s (1978) definition of the engaged research cycle. Findings – The action research process allowed a gap between theory and practice to be bridged; the strategic control process resulted supported by new measures; a different approach to strategy management was launched, and other organisations perceived the relevance of the IC representation and wished to import it. Research limitations/implications – Research limitations are related to those recognised for the interventionist research approach. Practical implications – The paper contributes to the improvement of managerial and accounting technologies for practitioners managing university hospitals and discusses a university hospital’s strategic goals. Originality/value – The paper represents a methodological contribution related to the interventionist research stream of literature, and enriches the limited studies focused on IC in health care organisations. Furthermore, the paper enables appreciation of the role of academics in the convergence of theory and practice.

The practical relevance of public sector research: the potential contributions of the interventionist approach

“…Management accounting appears to be the most fruitful area in which IVR can bring together academic scholars and practitioners to solve complex organisational problems. In public sector, as a context, limited have been the contributions, with some notable exceptions to date (Arnaboldi & Azzone, 2004;Dumay, 2010;Vagnoni & Oppi, 2015), which I will now describe to give a flavour on what IVR means for accounting studies in the public sector. Arnaboldi and Azzone (2004) developed an IVR in the context of an Italian university, by looking at the construction and use of activity-based costing (ABC) system to benchmark departments cost performance.…”

“…They placed their theoretical contribution within the IC accounting studies deepening how the visualisation of the IC can foster the strategic process of healthcare organisations. At the same time, Vagnoni and Oppi (2015) contributed to the practical learning of public sector managers on how to design and develop an IC statement and the possible use, particularly to guarantee integration between the healthcare services and academic activities.…”

“…As argued in the prevision sections, IVR allows for the adoption of different epistemological approaches. Arnaboldi and Azzone (2004) used a functionalistic approach by referring to Demski and Feltham (1976), while Dumay (2010) used a multi-theory approach, and Vagnoni and Oppi (2015) positioned their findings within the general IC theory. Overall, the three cases share the common aim at solving a practical problem (ABC implementation, IC reporting, and Strategic Plan), but at the same time contributing to the theoretical development.…”

“…In his study, he applied different theoretical constructs Narrative Theory (Joerges & Czarniawska, 1998), IC Theory (Cuganesan, 2005;Skoog, 2003), Micro-sociological Theory (Westley, 1990), Sense-making and Narrative Theory (Weick, 2001;Weick & Browning, 1986). Vagnoni and Oppi (2015) looked at the design and implementation of an intellectual capital (IC) framework in a University-Hospital in Italy. In particular, the authors aimed at applying an IC framework to enhance the visualisation of strategic IC, enhancing the use of IC visualisation for strategic management and investigating the factors that are the foundation of the integration between hospital and university.…”

“…Chiucchi, 2013;Dumay, 2010;Labro & Tuomela, 2003;Sunding & Odenrick, 2010;Suomala, Lyly-Yrjänäinen, & Lukka, 2014;Vagnoni & Oppi, 2015;Westin & Roberts, 2010), in books, book chapters and reports (Dumay & Baard, 2017;Jönsson, 1996).…”