Value that matters: intellectual capital and big data to assess performance in healthcare. An empirical analysis on the European context

The aim of this paper is to analyze and measure the effects of intellectual capital, human capital, relational capital and structural capital, on healthcare industry organizational performance and understanding the role of data analytics and big data in healthcare value creation (Wang et al., 2018). Through the assessment of determined variables specific for each component of IC, the paperidentifies the guidelines and suggests propositions for a more efficient response in terms of services provided to
citizens and, specifically, patients, as well as predicting effective strategies to improve the care management
efficiency in terms of cost reduction.
The study has a twofold approach: in the first part, the authors operated a
systematic review of the academic literature aiming to enquire the relationship between IC, big data analyticsand healthcare system, which were also the descriptors employed. In the second part, the authors built an econometric model analyzed through panel data analysis, studying the relationship between IC, namely human, relational and structural capital indicators, and the performance of healthcare system in terms of
performance. The study has been conducted on a sample of 28 European countries, notwithstanding the
belonging to specific international or supranational bodies, between 2011 and 2016. The paper proposes a data-driven model that presents new approach to IC assessment, extendable
to other economic sectors beyond healthcare. It shows the existence of a positive impact (turning into a
mathematical inverse relationship) of the human, relational and structural capital on the performance indicator,
while the physical assets (i.e. the available beds in hospitals on total population) positively mediates the
relationship, turning into a negative impact of non-IC related inputs on healthcare performance. The result is
relevant in terms of managerial implications, enhancing the opportunity to highlight the crucial role of IC in the
healthcare sector.
The relationship between IC indicators and performance could be
employed in other sectors, disseminating new approaches in academic research. Through the establishment of
a relationship between IC factors and performance, the authors implemented an approach in which healthcare organizations are active participants in their economic and social value creation. This challenges the views of
knowledge sharing deeply held inside organizations by creating “new value” developed through a more
collaborative and permeated approach in terms of knowledge spillovers. A limitation is given by a fragmented
policymaking process which carries out different results in each country.
The analysis provides interesting implications on multiple perspectives. The
novelty of the study provides interesting implications for managers, practitioners and governmental bodies.
A more efficient healthcare system could provide better results in terms of cost minimization and reduction of
hospitalization period. Moreover, dissemination of new scientific knowledge and drivers of specialization
enhances best practices sharing in the healthcare sector. On the other hand, an improvement in preventive
medicine practices could help in reducing the overload of demand for curative treatments, on the perspective of
sharply decreasing the avoidable deaths rate and improving societal standards. The authors provide a new holistic framework on the relationship between IC, BDA and
organizational performance in healthcare organizations through a systematic review approach and an
empirical panel analysis at a multinational level, which is quite a novelty regarding the healthcare. There is
little research focussed on healthcare industries’ organizational performance, and, specifi