IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eme/ajbpps/v27y2012i2p133-153.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Contrasting continuous quality improvement, Six Sigma, and lean management for enhanced outcomes in US hospitals

Author

Listed:
  • Charles R. Gowen
  • Kathleen L. McFadden
  • Sriranjita Settaluri

Abstract

Purpose - Rapidly rising healthcare costs, partially due to preventable medical errors, have led hospitals to redouble their process improvement (PI) efforts. The purpose of this paper is to examine how PI initiatives mediate the effect of medical error sources to enhance three hospital outcomes (patient safety, operational effectiveness, and competitiveness). Design/methodology/approach - Drawing from Dynamic Capabilities Theory, the authors develop a framework to explore three PI initiatives: Continuous Quality Improvement (CQI), Six Sigma Initiatives (SSI), and Lean Management Initiatives (LMI). Hierarchical regression analysis is employed to test the proposed model, using data from a nationwide survey of 210 US hospitals. Findings - For enhancing patient safety outcomes, it was found that CQI and LMI were significant in mediating hospital error sources; however, SSI was not significant after accounting for the other two PI types. For improving organizational effectiveness, CQI and SSI were significant; whereas LMI was not significant over and above the other two PI types. Finally, only SSI was significant for superior sustainable competitive advantage. Research limitations/implications - The paper provides insight into which PI initiatives were most effective for various hospital outcomes. The findings can benefit healthcare practitioners as they select among different PI programs for enhancing healthcare results. Limitations of the study include the use of perceptual measures, relatively small sample size, and potential alternate relationships relevant to the outcome variables. Originality/value - This is the first study to explore the mediating effects of three PI programs for the impact of medical errors on each of three hospital outcomes.

Suggested Citation

  • Charles R. Gowen & Kathleen L. McFadden & Sriranjita Settaluri, 2012. "Contrasting continuous quality improvement, Six Sigma, and lean management for enhanced outcomes in US hospitals," American Journal of Business, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 27(2), pages 133-153, October.
    • Handle: RePEc:eme:ajbpps:v:27:y:2012:i:2:p:133-153
    DOI: 10.1108/19355181211274442
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.emerald.com/insight/content/doi/10.1108/19355181211274442/full/html?utm_source=repec&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=repec
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers
    File URL: https://www.emerald.com/insight/content/doi/10.1108/19355181211274442/full/pdf?utm_source=repec&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=repec
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1108/19355181211274442?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Rubbio, Iacopo & Bruccoleri, Manfredi, 2023. "Unfolding the relationship between digital health and patient safety: The roles of absorptive capacity and healthcare resilience," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 195(C).
    2. Yash Daultani & Atanu Chaudhuri & Sushil Kumar, 2015. "A Decade of Lean in Healthcare: Current State and Future Directions," Global Business Review, International Management Institute, vol. 16(6), pages 1082-1099, December.
    3. Sharon J. Williams & Zoe Radnor, 2018. "Using bandwidths to visualize and improve patient pathways," Public Money & Management, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 38(1), pages 21-28, January.
    4. Sandeep Jadhav & Ahmed Imran & Marjia Haque, 2023. "Application of six sigma and the system thinking approach in COVID-19 operation management: a case study of the victorian aged care response centre (VACRC) in Australia," Operations Management Research, Springer, vol. 16(1), pages 531-553, March.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eme:ajbpps:v:27:y:2012:i:2:p:133-153. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Emerald Support (email available below). General contact details of provider: .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.