215 research outputs found

    The 2P-K Framework: A Personal Knowledge Measurement Framework for the Pharmaceutical Industry

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    Knowledge is a dynamic human process to justify our personal belief in pursuit of the truth. The intellectual output of any organisation is reliant upon the individual people within that organisation. Despite the eminent role of personal knowledge in organisations, personal knowledge management and measurement have received little attention, particularly in pharmaceutical manufacturing. The pharmaceutical industry is one of the pillars of the global economy and a knowledge-intensive sector where knowledge is described as the second product after medicines. The need of measurement to achieve effective management is not a new concept in management literature. This study offers an explanatory framework for personal knowledge, its underlying constructs and observed measures in the pharmaceutical manufacturing context. Following a sequential mixed method research (MMR) design, the researcher developed a measurement framework based on the thematic analysis of fifteen semi-structured interviews with industry experts and considering the extant academic and regulatory literature. A survey of 190 practitioners from the pharmaceutical manufacturing sector enabled quantitative testing and validation of the proposed models utilising confirmatory factor analysis. The pharmaceutical personal knowledge framework was the fruit of a comprehensive study to explain and measure the manifestations of personal knowledge in pharmaceutical organisations. The proposed framework identifies 41 personal knowledge measures reflecting six latent factors and the underlying personal knowledge. The hypothesised factors include: regulatory awareness, performance, wisdom, organisational understanding, mastership of product and process besides communication and networking skills. In order to enhance the applicability and flexibility of the measurement framework, an abbreviated 15-item form of the original framework was developed. The abbreviated pharmaceutical personal knowledge (2P-K) framework demonstrated superior model fit, better accuracy and reliability. The research results reveal that over 80% of the participant pharmaceutical organisations had a form of structured KM system. However, less than 30% integrated KM with corporate strategies suggesting that KM is still in the early stages of development in the pharmaceutical industry. Also, personal knowledge measurement is still a subjective practice and predominately an informal process. The 2P-K framework offers researchers and scholars a theoretically grounded original model for measuring personal knowledge. Also, it offers a basis for a personal knowledge measurement scale (2P-K-S) in the pharmaceutical manufacturing context. Finally, the study had some limitations. The framework survey relied on self-ratings. This might pose a risk of social desirability bias and Dunning–Kruger effect. Consequently, a 360- degree survey was suggested to achieve accurate assessments. Also, the model was developed and tested in an industry-specific context. A comparative study in similar manufacturing industries (e.g. chemical industries) is recommended to assess the validity of the current model or a modified version of it in other industries

    The influence of personal knowledge management on individual health care decision-making : an action learning approach : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Management at Massey University, Albany, Auckland, New Zealand

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    Appendix B and Appendix K were removed at the author's request.Background: Making effective health care decisions is important. Despite the large volumes of information available, individuals often face personal limitations evaluating this information and making optimal decisions. Personal knowledge management has been suggested as a method of addressing information barriers and improving decision-making. Personal knowledge management has, however, been mostly applied within an education context, in order to improve individuals’ learning performance. From the available literature in this area, very limited research or significant conceptual development has been undertaken on personal knowledge management and its influence on decision-making, particularly in the health care context. Aims and Significance: This study examines an effective personal knowledge management strategy for older adults (aged between 46 and 75) with limited computer/technological skills by answering the following questions: How do older adults access and evaluate information and knowledge for health care decision-making? How can personal knowledge management help older adults with limited computer/technological abilities manage their information and knowledge for health care decision-making? How effective is an action learning training program in supporting older adults with limited computer/technological abilities for health care decision-making? The aim of this study is to provide an understanding of the use of action learning and personal knowledge management pertaining to older adults’ health care decision-making. Examples of relevant health care concerns include, diabetes and obesity or other issues of this nature, but are exclusive of severe health issues, such as cancer. The findings will offer educators and researchers an understanding of ways to help these individuals to navigate the world of information regarding critical personal decision-making, with specific reference to health care. Method: To investigate this issue, a qualitative study was conducted using action learning with thematic and grounded theory coding techniques. New Zealand patient health care support groups and churches provided a source of older adults with health-related issues as volunteers. Participants were asked to practice personal knowledge management strategies, focusing on their personal health-related issues after each learning session. In the following session, the issues or experiences that the participants encountered whilst conducting their self-practice exercises, within their groups were discussed. Findings: This study found that the older adult participants in this study used Google, Facebook closed groups, YouTube, online videos, health care support groups, family and medical professionals as information sources before embarking upon this training program. To evaluate alternative treatment options, these participants rely predominantly on family, friends, medical professionals and their personal life experience for decisions. This study found that major factors that negatively impacted older adults’ effective information interpretation and decision-making include: barriers to accessing accurate and relevant health care information and knowledge, barriers to computer-based technology use, and humanistic barriers. The findings suggest that a four-stage personal knowledge management strategy could help older adults (with limited computer/technological skills) to overcome the barriers to effective information interpretation, and making informed health care decisions. Finally, this study suggests some practical training/learning techniques for older adults. For instance, major individual health-related issues of the older adults within the pre-training program need to be confirmed, followed by a warm welcome prior to the commencement of the training program. I learned that it is important to pre-diagnose participants’ abilities in learning and computer-based technology before designing the training program. This can help to develop an appropriate training program for a specific cohort. Conclusions: The findings of this study contribute to the development of an academic understanding of personal knowledge management conceptualisation in the consumer decision-making field, with the aim of improving older adults’ information and knowledge management processes. This study serves as a vantage point for further empirical research in personal knowledge management and older adult education and training

    Financial Decision Making, Price, and Consumer Financial Well-being: A Multiple Methodology Inquiry of the Cognitions, Emotional Coping Responses, and Brand Measures in the Healthcare Service Industry

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    Article 1: Financial bankruptcy, particularly those as a result of healthcare expenses, has become a pervasive issue in the United States. This article examines a basic premise for the research, that healthcare is not viewed, by consumers, consistently with other exchanges, leading to detachment and disengagement within the purchase experience (e.g., a lack of price searching and price comparison behaviors) and disadvantageous consequences for financial well-being. Subsequently, the studies test cognitive (i.e., knowledge structures) and emotional constructs (i.e., emotion regulation), with a between-subjects experimental methodology (three studies), that may further unfurl the decision process for healthcare consumers. Contributions to the marketing, psychology, and public policy literatures yield implications for marketers and public policy makers, which are discussed subsequently.;Article 2: A qualitative exploration of mindfulness and emotion regulation is proffered, in an effort to identify and understand the cognitive processes used by consumers during healthcare financial decision making. Two complementary methodologies (i.e., stimulated recall, think-aloud protocol) are used for data collection, and two rounds of coding analysis offer themes which inform the literatures of psychology and marketing. Data from 16 participants supports the proposal of a preliminary framework. Implications for marketers and public policy makers are discussed.;Article 3: Healthcare organizations (HCO) are a critical portion of the continually burgeoning healthcare industry. Recent revenue estimates for the industry now exceed {dollar}3 trillion in the U.S. (Phillips 2015). As such, HCOs, embedded within a unique service context, have turned their attention and resources towards managing, cultivating, and promoting their brands. Brand equity and brand image are examined for their impact on price (i.e., average charge price ), a dependent variable derived from data from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, and price premiums within the healthcare industry. Implications for the theory of services marketing and healthcare marketing are discussed, as well as for managers

    Policy Knowledge Communication in Nursing

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    Evidence-based practices in nursing improve patient outcomes, decrease healthcare costs, and can be implemented with policies and procedures. However, there is limited literature describing how nurses acquire policy knowledge, the dissemination of which may require a significant investment of resources by a hospital. The purpose of this study was to learn more about how nurses obtain policy knowledge. Rogers\u27s diffusion of innovations theory guided the examination of communication channels and how they relate to the formation of policy knowledge. The research questions were designed to gather information on the relationship of policy communication channels, demographic factors, and the frequency of document access in policy knowledge formation. This correlational study, using select subscales of the Policy Communication Index, was conducted to examine how nurses create and communicate policy knowledge. The sample included 22 nurses who practice at the bedside in a small hospital. Data sources included an anonymous online survey and frequency of policy access data. Data analyses included multiple regression, Pearson\u27s r correlation, and Spearman\u27s correlation of the data. The results showed that nurses report meeting discussions are the primary source of policy knowledge rather than written documents. A subset of participants who supplied an employee identification number showed a strong correlation with electronically distributed. Based on these results, nursing leaders can concentrate policy knowledge dissemination through meetings and safety huddles. The positive social change implication of this study includes better practices to convey evidence-based policy knowledge to nurses practicing at the bedside

    COVID‑19 vaccine distribution: exploring strategic alternatives for the greater good

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    The dire state of the COVID-19 pandemic crisis symbolized the urgency for efficient distribution and administration of vaccines to combat the virus as the most urgent public health service. This paper presents a prototype multi-criteria decision support model based on goal programming that can effectively support vaccination plans for the greater good of society. The optimization goals of the model include minimizing the number of fatalities and risk of spreading the disease, while complying with government health agency’s priority guidelines for vaccination. This study applied the model to a real-world dataset to demonstrate how it can be effectively applied as a decision support tool for vaccine distribution plans and manage future pandemics

    Relationship of Intellectual Capital, Work Environment and Human Resources Engagement with Community Health Center Performance Using the SEM-PLS Approach

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    In this study, the use of intellectual capital, work environment, and human resourcesengagement variables was associated with the performance of the community health center (in Indonesia: puskesmas). The sub-district health centers in Kebayoran LamDistrict in South Jakarta were the subject of this study, involving about 34 healthworkers as research samples. All health workers in the population were used as sample because the saturation sampling technique was used when there were lesthan 100 samples. The Likert scale was used to measure the variables involved inthis lesson.This study used a questionnaire, quantitative methodology, andstructural equation models (SEM) with the partial least squares (PLS) technique foranalysis. The SMARTPLS 3.2.9 software was used to process the data for thiinvestigation. The results of this study indicated that the performance of thecommunity health center can be maximized by optimizing intellectual capital andthe work environment by taking into account the involvement of human resourcefor health workers associated with improving the performance of the Sub-districHealth Center in the working area of the Kebayoran Lama District Health Center

    The Effects of Risk Disclosure in Direct-to-Consumer Prescription Drug Advertising (DTCA): Prominence, DTCA Regulatory Knowledge, and Perceived Attention

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    Fair balance of benefit and risk information in consumer prescription drug advertising (DTCA) has received much research attention. In this regard, it has been well-documented that varying levels of risk disclosure prominence have disproportional effects on consumer response to the DTC ad. However, little research has examined how the prominence effects can be maximized or minimized depending on consumers’ varying levels of knowledge of the FDA’s regulatory role for DTCA. In a similar vein, rare research has been conducted to investigate how such regulatory knowledge directly affects consumers’ risk disclosure coping strategies. Drawing on consumer information processing perspectives, this research employs an experimental approach to examine one manipulated categorical variable, one measured continuous variable, and their interactive effects on consumer response to the ad, while controlling for potential covariates. Specifically, two levels of risk disclosure prominence are manipulated (high vs. low) and coded as a dummy variable, and DTCA regulatory knowledge is measured as a continuous variable. Further, based on the persuasion knowledge model (PKM) framework, DTCA regulatory knowledge is tested as a moderator of the prominence effects. Consumer memory such as unaided-recall and aided-recognition of the health risks of the medicine presented in the ad as well as self-reported perceived attention to risk disclosure are addressed as criterion variables. The major findings are summarized as follows: (1) both higher DTCA regulatory knowledge and higher prominence enhanced perceived attention to risk disclosure; (2) both higher DTCA regulatory knowledge and higher prominence enhanced consumer recognition of risk information; (3) DTCA regulatory knowledge moderated the prominence effects on perceived attention to risk disclosure; (4) the main DTCA regulatory knowledge effects and the main prominence effects on consumer recall and recognition were mediated through perceived attention to risk disclosure; (5) However, the moderated mediation effect analyses revealed that the effects of prominence on recall and recognition were mediated through perceived attention among low DTCA regulatory knowledge consumers, whereas the mediating effects were minimal among high DTCA regulatory knowledge consumers. The overall findings support the current study’s conceptual framework. The theoretical, managerial, and consumer education/public health implications of this research are discussed

    Strengthening health systems through the use of process evaluations of complex interventions

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    Strengthening health systems to provide affordable, effective and accessible care in a lifecourse approach is necessary to address the growing global burden from non-communicable diseases (NCD). To address deficiencies in the health system, researchers have designed and trialled ‘complex interventions’ which are defined as interventions with multiple interacting components, and complexity in its implementation. Process evaluations alongside randomised controlled trials (RCT) of complex interventions are highly valuable. They explore implementation and different stakeholders’ perspectives as to for whom, how and why a complex intervention has an impact

    Opinion Leaders as Brand Advocates in the Medical Industry – How Medical Professionals Perceive Source Credibility and Company Affiliations

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    Opinion leaders are experts in their domain of interest that share their experience with others. Opinion seekers, on the other hand, value the opinion leader’s knowledge and use them as a source of information to form an opinion about a service or a product. Marketers in the healthcare industry have recognized this information flow and have begun to use leading experts as a valuable third party who can take over the role of brand advocates or endorsers of a particular product. This research examines the marketing concept of opinion leaders advocating a product and persuading medical professionals. In two experimental studies, the influence of opinion leaders on medical students and practicing physicians and their perceived credibility of the message, as well as their attitude towards the company, is examined. The second focus of this research is how medical professionals cope with this form of persuasion attempt and whether their persuasion knowledge is activated. The influence on medical students and physicians through a peer expert - a skilled expert without any public recognition – represents the point of comparison in both studies. The results demonstrate that there are no significant differences in terms of perceived credibility between peer experts and opinion leaders, and that there are no differences regarding their influence on message credibility or attitude toward the company either. Moreover, disclosing company affiliations lead to the correction of attitudes toward the company. However, disclosing conflicts of interest can also be beneficial as it boosts the credibility of the source and helps to increase the perceived credibility of the corporation

    The Great Reset

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    This timely and insightful collection of essays written by economists from a range of academic and policy institutes explores the subject of public investment through two avenues. The first examines public investment trends and needs in Europe, addressing the initiatives taken by European governments to tackle the COVID-19 recession and to rebuild their economies. The second identifies key domains where European public investment is needed to build a more sustainable Europe, from climate change to human capital formation. Building on the 2020 edition, The Great Reset demonstrates the value of public capital both within European countries and as a European public good, shedding light on the impact that the NextGenerationEU’s Recovery and Resilience Facility will likely have on the macroeconomic structure of the European economy. The first part of the Outlook assesses the state of public investment in Europe at large, as well as focusing on five countries (France, Germany, Italy, Poland and Spain) as case studies. The second part focuses on the challenges posed by the pandemic and the pillars of the NextGenerationEU investment plan, with chapters ranging from education and digitalization, to territorial cohesion and green transition. This book is a must-read for economists, policymakers, and scholars interested in the impact and recovery of European countries during a time of extensive uncertainty
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