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Dissertation Information for Irene McKenzie Lathrop

NAME:
- Irene McKenzie Lathrop

DEGREE:
- Ph.D.

DISCIPLINE:
- Library and Information Science

SCHOOL:
- Simmons College (USA) (1982)

ADVISORS:
- Ching-chih Chen

COMMITTEE MEMBERS:
- None

MPACT Status: Fully Complete

Title: Cooperative information sharing among health organizations : a study of health administrators' perceptions and attitudes

Abstract: Information sharing is examined as one aspect of inter-
organizational cooperation within the voluntary sector of the health industry. Information sharing is defined as any
communications about the units of exchange or nature of the
relationship transmitted between health organizations. The
question addressed by the investigation is: Under what circumstances do autonomous health organizations decide to enter into "coalitional" contexts for the joint accomplishment of information exchange activities?
Following a review of the literature on interorganizational cooperation, the relevant factors are identified according to their importance as motivators, deterrents, or correlates of cooperation. A decision making framework is
introduced based on the assumption that organizations "decide" for a certain reason to cooperate with one another.
Application of this framework to the research setting leads to the following question: What combination of perceptions and
organizational characteristics explain the felt needs of
health administrators to see their organizations pursue
strategies of interorganizational information sharing?
The research question is investigated using data from a
survey of 71 health organizations in Providence, Rhode Island. Correlation and regression techniques are used to determine the relationships between selected factors and the two dependent variables--openness to cooperation and felt need to share information. Initial studies fail to support openness as a dependent variable but demonstrate a relationship between openness and felt need. When all the variables are considered simultaneously, the strongest predictors of felt need are: information resource availability, perceived performance gaps, and ease of implementation. The implication is that organizations with recognized performance distress and a surplus of information resources are likely to select information sharing as a means of improving their performance. The final regression model, accounting for 33 percent goals.
of the variance in the felt need variable, reveals several
directions where future research is needed. From a methodological viewpoint, the focus of study could be broadened to include the organizations' trustees and
practitioners, and the population base could be enlarged to
include other health communities. As for theoretical issues,
future research efforts could be directed along some of the
following lines. the nature of communication links and kinds
of information exchanged, the role played by boundary-
spanning activities and technology, and the types of information resources located within organizations. There is also a need for longitudinal studies of factors contributing to information sharing patterns over a given time frame. The study demonstrates the utility of the decision making framework in a specific health care setting.
It provides a limited foundation from which health policy
makers and information managers may design intervention
programs for cooperative information sharing in their
communities. Some suggested methods for bringing about
changes in administrators' attitudes and perceptions toward
information sharing include the stimulation of the development of human resource networks, the creation of computerized health resource directories, the encouragement of joint professional activities, and finally, building programs around existing informal networks, rather than creating new central structures.

MPACT Scores for Irene McKenzie Lathrop

A = 0
C = 0
A+C = 0
T = 0
G = 0
W = 0
TD = 0
TA = 0
calculated 2008-01-31 06:33:23

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Students under Irene McKenzie Lathrop

ADVISEES:
- None

COMMITTEESHIPS:
- None