Enhancing value in healthcare: towards a trans-disciplinary approach

William Maguire and Lyn Murphy

Accounting, Auditing & Accountability Journal, 2022, vol. 36, issue 2, 494-519

Abstract: Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to suggest how decision-makers may work towards a broader perspective on value than that expressed in financial economics-based accounting terms to enhance value in healthcare. Design/methodology/approach - The authors review published academic research and reports on practice across a range of disciplines. Findings - The authors find that while value is a multidimensional concept, which is open to perceptions that differ across stakeholders in healthcare, financial economics-based accounting is essentially mono-disciplinary and dominates decisions. Enhancing value in health is a wicked problem, and a trans-disciplinary approach has the potential to enable decision-makers to enhance value. Practical implications - The suggest that a trans-disciplinary approach, which dissolves disciplinary boundaries, is capable of enabling decision-makers to work towards understanding and enhancing value by fostering awareness of stakeholders' perceptions of value. A critical caveat is that a trans-disciplinary approach does not guarantee ready-made or immediate solutions; it does, however, offer the means to struggle towards a destination which may be continually shifting. Originality/value - This study highlights the importance of a broader understanding of the concept of value than that implied by financial economics-based accounting and recognises the perceptions of stakeholders. It explores the inter-relationship among “the view from nowhere”, wicked problems and trans-disciplinarity and recommends a trans-disciplinary approach with a view to enhancing value in that broader sense. In this way, it contributes to the accounting literature, which has previously paid little attention to some of these aspects.

Keywords: Healthcare decisions; Outcomes; Stakeholders' perceptions; View from nowhere; Trans-disciplinary; Wicked problems; Value (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eme:aaajpp:aaaj-06-2016-2596

DOI: 10.1108/AAAJ-06-2016-2596

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