Mobile technology to give a resource-based knowledge management advantage to community health nurses in an emerging economies context

Abstract

Purpose

Knowledge is a key success factor in achieving competitive advantage. The purpose of this paper is to examine how mobile health technology facilitates knowledge management (KM) practices to enhance a public health service in an emerging economies context. Specifically, the acceptance of a knowledge-resource application by community health workers (CHWs) to deliver breast cancer health care in India, where resources are depleted, is explored.

Design/methodology/approach

Fieldwork activity conducted 20 semi-structured interviews with frontline CHWs, which were analysed using an interpretive inductive approach.

Findings

The application generates knowledge as a resource that signals quality health care and yields a positive reputation for the public health service. The CHW’s acceptance of technology enables knowledge generation and knowledge capture. The design facilitates knowledge codification and knowledge transfer of breast cancer information to standardise quality patient care.

Practical implications

KM insights are provided for the implementation of mobile health technology for frontline health-care professionals in an emerging economies context. The knowledge-resource application can deliver breast cancer care, in localised areas with the potential for wider contexts. The outcomes are valuable for policymakers, health service managers and KM practitioners in an emerging economies context.

Social implications

The legacy of the mobile heath technology is the normalisation of breast cancer discourse and the technical up-skilling of CHWs.

Originality/value

First, this paper contributes three propositions to KM scholarship, in a public health care, emerging economies context. Second, via an interdisciplinary theoretical lens (signalling theory and technology acceptance model), this paper offers a novel conceptualisation to illustrate how a knowledge-resource application can shape an organisation’s KM to form a resource-based competitive advantage.