Effects of Knowledge Management Implementation in Hospitals: An Exploratory Study in Taiwan

From the knowledge management point of view, the fundamental mission of hospital management is the delivery of quality medical services, utilizing highly specialized knowledge to solve healthcare problems within various resource constraints. Similar to other knowledge-intensive industries operating in highly challenging business environments, hospitals of all sizes must view the creation, organization, distribution, and application of knowledge as a critical aspect of their management activities. Knowledge management represents a viable strategy as hospitals strive simultaneously to provide quality medical services, improve operational efficiency, and conform to the government’s documentation and reporting regulations. This study examines the correlation as well as the causal relationships among knowledge characteristics, knowledge acquisition strategy, implementation measures, and performance of knowledge management implementations in the context of hospital management. Using primary data collected in Taiwan, our analyses show that the characteristics of knowledge affect the ways in which knowledge management is implemented, and the implementation measures, in turn, have a significant impact on the results of knowledge management implementations.