The Impact of Knowledge Creation, Acquisition and Transfer on Innovation in the Healthcare Sector.

This study sought to analyse the impact of the creation, acquisition and transfer of knowledge on innovation in the healthcare sector. The innovation process relies heavily on knowledge (Gloet and Terziovski, 2004), especially tacit knowledge (Leonard and Sensiper, 1998), whereby new and important knowledge is created and converted into products, services and processes (Choy et al., 2006), thereby transforming general knowledge into specific knowledge. According to Nonaka (1994), knowledge is considered one of the main requirements for innovations leading to competitiveness. Thus, investment in the development of innovative products and services related both to medical equipment and management is a key element of growth in the healthcare sector. Porter and Teisberg (2006) point out that the promotion of strategies based on innovation generates real value for clients (i.e. users) and that this is quite highly rewarded in extremely competitive markets. The cited authors also argue that, although technological innovation in healthcare is often viewed with suspicion and its adoption blocked by financial constraints, innovation is a crucial part of healthcare development. The present analysis was conducted based on variables included in the Community Innovation Survey 2014 database, to which multivariate statistical tests were applied. The data were analysed with IBM's SPSS Statistics 24 software. The results reveal that knowledge processes have a positive impact on innovation in Portugal's healthcare sector. More specifically, knowledge acquisition has an impact on technological and non-technological innovation and knowledge transfer affects marketing innovation. Thus, healthcare organisations mainly promote knowledge creation and acquisition processes that have a higher impact on non-technological innovation. This study's findings contribute to validating the importance of investing in knowledge as a way to understand trends, as well as planning and defining innovation strategies that contribute to healthcare organisations' performance and customer satisfaction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]