| Purpose. As healthcare organizations expand the scope of their operations with an eye towards cost reductions, quality improvements, sustainability, increased stakeholder satisfaction and increased performance, they are increasingly investing significant resources into information systems in general and Business Intelligence Systems (BIS) in particular to provide the necessary operational and decision support information. This paper seeks to model the relationships between BIS, learning, quality organization and competitive performance, as well as measure the influence BIS has on end-user perceptions of quality and competitive performance from a learning point of view.;Methods. Qualitative and quantitative methods including survey, interview, and case study instruments to measure the link between BIS, learning models of mental-model building and mental-model maintenance, quality organization, and competitive performance. Individual, organizational, system, information, and service characteristics are explored to measure the relationship between variables. Extending models from prior-literature, a proposed model is introduced to improve the explanatory power of the prior model, and extend theoretical, practical, and policy contributions within a healthcare setting.;Results. Results demonstrate a significant relationship between learning, quality and competitive performance when utilizing BIS. Information and system quality characteristics also influence the level of learning. The model increases the explanatory power over the prior information support systems and learning models and adds important contributions to healthcare research and practice.;Contribution. Technology improvements and cost reductions have allowed BIS to be extended to the entire set of organizational stakeholders to provide information for various forms of decision making. Despite these improvements, there is still a significant organizational investment and risk to implement and maintain BIS. Expectations and funding for BIS in healthcare are based on the desire for improved quality and competitive performance across all levels of the organization. Previous information systems have not demonstrated a link between multiple forms of learning and competitive performance. In addition research does not directly address how BIS and learning impact healthcare quality or discuss BIS specific relationships specifically within a healthcare setting. BIS which expand the inherent information analysis capabilities and expands usage to all stakeholders demonstrates a link between both mental-model building, mental-model maintenance as a component of learning, quality organization and competitive performance. Through democratizing BIS, organizations can become sustainable through improved healthcare quality and competitive performance across all employee levels. |
