Factors affecting buyer-supplier collaboration in Thai public and private hospitals

Abstract

The objectives of the study were 1) to determine the critical factors that affect the buyer-supplier collaboration in Thai public and private hospitals, and 2) to test the causal relations in a structural equation model for the buyer-supplier collaboration framework. The unit of analysis was at the organizational level. The methodology was divided into 3 steps: (1) review of the buyer-supplier collaboration phenomena and relevant literature to develop a theoretical model of buyer-supplier collaboration in Thai public and private hospitals; (2) qualitative study using in-depth interviewing with 48 hospital executives working in 23 hospitals during the period of August 2015 - February 2016 and then presenting the proposed research model; (3) quantitative study which tested the generalization of the model using a hospital survey with executives in public and private hospitals all over Thailand. The questionnaire was constructed and mailed to hospital executives from April to July 2016. The response hospital executives were 416 persons from 309 public hospital and 107 private hospitals, and the response rate was 59.43%. The path analysis technique was intentionally used to analyze these complicated data.

It was found that in the macro view of buyer-supplier collaboration the phenomena were related to 2 factor groups: the external factor group and the internal factor group. The in-depth interviews revealed that 2 factor groups were related to buyer-supplier collaboration: 1) external factors: external support, market competition, and commitment; and 2) internal factors: management support, inventory management, capability, and trust.

The causal model for buyer-supplier collaboration in Thai public and private hospitals was initially summarized and then proposed. In the next step, it was found that the buyer-supplier collaboration varied with the kind of hospital, level of care, number of beds, number of service years, and hospital accreditation.

For quantitative research, the results was practical models for Thai public hospitals and Thai private hospitals. The critical factors that directly influenced the buyer-supplier collaboration in the Thai public hospitals were composed of 3 independent variables: 1) external support; 2) management support; and 3) trust. All 3 variables accounted for buyer-supplier collaboration at 42.1 percent. The factors that indirectly influenced the buyer-supplier collaboration in the Thai public hospitals were composed of 3 independent variables: 1) commitment; 2) capability; and 3) inventory management.

The critical factors that directly influenced the buyer-supplier collaboration in the Thai private hospitals were composed of only 2 independent variables: 1) external support and 2) trust. The 2 variables accounted for buyer-supplier collaboration 28.0 percent. The factors that indirectly influenced the buyer-supplier collaboration in the Thai private hospitals were composed of 5 independent variables: 1) management support; 2) market competition; 3) commitment; 4) capability; and 5) inventory management.

The findings and results will help readers gain greater understanding of the relationships among the variables and the practical model can be applied to other services. The study can be used as guidelines to build collaboration between hospitals and suppliers. Additionally, the outcome of this research can be used as a guideline in healthcare system policy formulation and healthcare service business development. The study can help benefits healthcare-related executives and managers in terms of realizing what critical factors can be more greatly utilized and emphasized for buyersupplier collaboration establishment.

Future research on specific groups of hospital executives is recommended in order to develop further strategies and policies. Furthermore, more in-depth interviews should be conducted with top management team members and executives working in different types of service organizations in order to obtain more useful information and deep insight in order to utilize this research model in practice.