Social Responsibility, Communication and Financial Data of Hospitals: A Structural Modelling Approach in a Sustainability Scope

Judit Creixans-Tenas, Dolores Gallardo-Vázquez and Núria Arimany-Serrat
Additional contact information
Judit Creixans-Tenas: Department of Business, Faculty of Economics and Business, University of Vic-UCC, 08500 Vic Barcelona, Spain
Dolores Gallardo-Vázquez: Department of Financial Economics and Accounting, Faculty of Economics and Business, University of Extremadura, 06006 Badajoz, Spain
Núria Arimany-Serrat: Department of Business, Faculty of Economics and Business, University of Vic-UCC, 08500 Vic Barcelona, Spain

Sustainability, 2020, vol. 12, issue 12, 1-20

Abstract: Health is one of the fundamental pillars of public management and should be one of the main objectives of any society that pursues true progress and well-being for its citizens. In recent years, the public health system has been seeking collaborative synergies with the private health system to achieve efficient functioning at the levels of care demand, waiting lists and financial pressure. For this reason, private entities in the hospital field must be analysed through the application of information systems comprised of financial and non-financial indicators. In this organizational context, economic and financial data, communication, and social responsibility are essential to correctly manage the performance of hospital companies. Drawing on stakeholder and dynamic capabilities theories, we have defined a conceptual model that proposes that a greater predisposition to social responsibility actions by hospitals could explain communication practices and economic and financial results. Thus, the main objective of this study is to determine the possible relationship between three important aspects in the management of hospital companies: social responsibility, communication, and economic and financial results. Partial least square technique was applied to estimate a structural equation model to analyse a sample of 122 hospitals operating in Spain. This paper also analyses how communication mediates the relationship between social responsibility and economic and financial results. The main results empirically validate a model that links and predicts the social responsibility actions undertaken by these companies, which are directly related to the business communication that is carried out and the economic and financial results. Related to the implications, managers could adopt strategies once they know that they will contribute to improve their relationships with stakeholders and shareholders.

Keywords: corporate social responsibility; hospital; financial data; communication; structural equations model; consistent PLS (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/12/12/4857/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/12/12/4857/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:12:y:2020:i:12:p:4857-:d:371315

Access Statistics for this article

Sustainability is currently edited by Ms. Alexandra Wu

More articles in Sustainability from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().