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

Purpose: Knowledge is a key success factor in achieving competitive advantage. This paper examines how mobile health technology facilitates knowledge management practices to enhance a public health service in an emerging economies context. Specifically, the acceptance of a knowledge-resource application by community health workers to deliver breast cancer healthcare in India, where resources are depleted.

Design/methodology/approach: Fieldwork activity conducted twenty semi-structured interviews with frontline community health workers, which were analysed using an interpretive inductive approach.

Findings: The application generates knowledge as a resource that signals quality healthcare and yields a positive reputation for the public health service. The community health worker’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: Knowledge management insights are provided for implementation of m-health technology for frontline healthcare 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 knowledge management practitioners in an emerging economies context.

Originality/value: First, this study contributes three propositions to knowledge management scholarship, in a public healthcare, emerging economies context. Second, via an interdisciplinary theoretical lens (Signaling Theory and Technology Acceptance Model), we offer a novel conceptualization to illustrate how a knowledge-resource application can shape an organizations knowledge management to form a resource-based competitive advantage.

Social Implications: The legacy of the mobile heath technology is the normalisation of breast cancer discourse and the technical up-skilling community health workers.