Critical Factors Affecting The Implementation Of Knowledge Management In The Healthcare Sector Of Pakistan

Knowledge management(KM)has recently gained the attention of many businesses and researchers alike.It has been realized that if knowledge is managed and utilized properly it will become a source of sustainable competitive advantage.Due to the advantages of KM many organizations have moved towards its adoption.Recently the healthcare sectors of many developed countries have also moved towards its adoption.By looking at the improvement in the performance of the developed countries in health sector the developing countries like Pakistan are also considering its adoption.The adoption of KM in Pakistan will not be an easy process,many factors will be faced.The main aim of this dissertation is to understand and analyze the critical factors that will affect the implementation of KM in the healthcare of Pakistan.There are mainly three types of factors that are affecting the adoption of KM,barriers,enablers,and drivers.The barriers are factors that negatively influence the adoption of KM while enablers and drivers positively influence its adoption.These factors were first of all identified with the help of a comprehensive literature review.Then these factors were discussed with a group of experts that helped in narrowing down to the most relevant factors in the context of Pakistan.After this the ISM and MICMAC technique was applied on them.The ISM and MICMAC is a technique that determines the interrelationship between the factors separately,and how the different factors support each other(driving power),and how they influence each other(dependence power).Firstly,the ISM and MICMAC technique was applied on the barriers,factors that negatively influence the adoption of KM in the healthcare of Pakistan.A total of 18 barriers were identified.A hierarchal structure of 8 levels was developed,lack of top management support formed the foundation of the structure.This shows that if the top management is not willing to adopt KM then it will be very difficult to implement it.Secondly,the same technique was applied on the enablers,factors that will support the implementation of KM in the healthcare sector of Pakistan.The total number of enablers that were shortlisted by the group of experts was 18.After the application of ISM a hierarchal model of 7 levels was developed.The enabler at the foundation was policy incentive,indicating that the government policies significantly affect the healthcare of Pakistan.If a policy that is favorable to KM adoption is developed then it will significantly help its implementation.Thirdly,the ISM and MICMAC technique was applied on the drivers,they are called the benefits of KM,the reason for its implementation.The experts shortlisted a total of 19 drivers and after the analysis a 10 level structure was developed.Developing competitive advantage formed the foundation of that structure.The result shows that the main reason for adopting KM is to gain a competitive advantage and staying in competition with other organizations.Finally,from the previous three studies the critical factors were derived.The factors that are at the bottom of the structure are the critical factors.Hence the first four levels were considered as the most critical factors,they were considered as input for SEM for statistically quantifying the,5 barriers,7 enablers and 4 drivers.For the application of SEM the data was collected with the help of questionnaires.The data was collected from Peshawar,Mardan,Abbotabad,and Islamabad.After the application of SEM the results showed that the enablers and drivers outweigh the barriers,indicating that it is in the best interest of Pakistan to implement KM in its healthcare.