Abstract:

This study investigates the synergistic relationships among intellectual capital, process capability, and medical service performance. An empirical study was conducted by using a second-order research framework. Data were collected through a questionnaire survey, and structural equation modeling techniques were used to analyze the data. An empirical analysis revealed that intellectual capital is a major factor influencing final medical service performance. This major factor should be carefully improved to increase process capability in hospitals in the long term. Hospitals account for a substantial proportion of the intellectual capital in the health-care industry, and, thus, should improve their process capability to achieve high medical service performance.