1. The Social Resource-Based View (SRBV)
The Resource-Based View (RBV) contends that a firm’s competitive
advantage lies in effectively leveraging valuable, rare, and
difficult-to-imitate resources (Barney, 1991; Lado et al., 1992; Tate &
Balls, 2018). Organizations carve out unique market positions by
strategically developing these resources. Under a organization’s
control, resources are tactically utilized to generate competitiveness
and achieve organizational goals and missions (Barney & Clark, 2007).
Researchers have attempted to categorize resources, such as tangible,
intangible, and capabilities (Barney, 1991; Yarbrough & Power, 2006).
Tangible resources are property-based, including physical, financial,
and capital assets (Yarbrough & Power, 2006). Intangible resources
include an organization’s knowledge, intellectual property,
relationships, leadership, and reputation (Smith, 2008). Capabilities
refer to an organization’s ability to coordinate resources to accomplish
its goals, such as culture, teamwork, and trust (Yarbrough & Power,
2006). Thus, performance is a function of obtaining and deploying these
unique assets to create organizational sustainability (Short et al.,
2002). However, the RBV overlooks the dynamic evolution of social and
environmental conditions, forcing organizations to broaden their skill
sets and adjust their tactics to remain adaptable (Lee et al., 2023).
Beyond this gap, the Social Resource-Based View (SRBV) proposes that
social, environmental, or institutional elements can limit organizations
from obtaining the necessary resources and capabilities to accomplish
sustainable advantages (Hart, 1995; Tate & Bals, 2018). The SRBV
highlights the importance of organizations considering social and
institutional factors to navigate these external dynamics and enhance
economic and social values. This strategic approach can lead to a
positive impact on their long-term performance and organizational
sustainability. SRBV is relevant to understanding a hospital’s
performance improvement since social and institutional conditions
surround healthcare organizations. Implementing the logic of a
resource-based view in challenging and turbulent healthcare environments
appears to be a legitimate strategy (Burton & Rycroft-Malone, 2015;
Ferlie et al., 2015; Kosiol et al., 2023). Therefore, this study draws
on the SRBV as a theoretical lens to investigate how organizational and
social resources are associated with hospital performance improvement.
Furthermore, this study identifies patient engagement through PFACs as a
strategic resource, incorporating the SRBV framework. The extended
Resource-Based Approach presents an avenue to examine how diverse
stakeholders, notably patients, contribute to creating valuable
knowledge assets for hospitals. Although current conceptualizations of
evidence pay attention to patient feedback, the personal and collective
wisdom that emerges from knowledge or experience constructions via
patients over time can provide a knowledge resource that is generally
not collated (Burton & Rycroft-Malone, 2015). Thus, this study focuses
on how the PFACs can be pivotal in determining hospital performance,
offering hospitals critical resources to gain organizational
sustainability.