Influence of Social Capital Integration Capabilities on Sustainable Competitive Advantage Among Private Hospitals in Kenya

Abstract

Healthcare ecosystem continues to be influenced by volatility and hospitals are struggling to overcome the heightened competition due to inability to match up to the increasing demands. However, the articulation of the unique capabilities necessary for creation of superior value for customers and a prerequisite for the achievement of sustainable competitive advantage continue to be unsettled. This study aimed to establish the influence of social capital integration capabilities on sustainable competitive advantage among private hospitals in Kenya. Positivism research philosophy guided the study and a descriptive correlational research design was used. The study population consisted of 690 managers from the 46 level 5 private hospitals across Kenya. Stratified simple random sampling technique was used to select a sample size of 253 managers from the population. A structured questionnaire was applied to collect data. The study used structural equation modelling for analysing the data. Findings indicated that the private hospitals had social capital integration capabilities in all the three dimensions of cognitive capital (M = 4.24, SD = 0.425), relational capital (M=4.13, SD = 0.481) and structural capital (M = 4.03, SD = 0.501).  The study findings determined that social capital integration capabilities had a significant positive influence on sustainable competitive advantage of private hospitals in Kenya (β = 0.651, CR = 4.453, p < 0.05). The study has practical implications for top management team in private hospitals in Kenya to continually encourage good working relationship between management and other employees and enhance partnership and interactions between employees within or across different departments.