Users' involvement in digital health collaborative projects
Journal of Health Organization and Management
ISSN: 1477-7266
Article publication date: 10 January 2024
Issue publication date: 24 January 2024
Abstract
Purpose
This research analyzes the roles of users in innovative digital health collaborative projects from the perspective of the user by considering three dimensions: their motivation, project activities and the support of the partnership for their effective involvement.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors unraveled profiles of users by using a Q-methodological analysis of 24 statements and 44 service users. The statements for the three dimensions were designed according to previous models of stakeholder identification and customer participation in new product management.
Findings
The authors obtained two profiles that advocate active participation of users, though with a different degree of involvement. One of them supports the role of users as “advisors” of users' preferences and needs, and the other indicates a higher involvement of users as “cocreators” of the innovation, with the same contribution and responsibility as the other partners.
Originality/value
Previous research has analyzed user involvement in digital health, as part of wider research on factors leading to the success and adoption of innovations. Moreover, previous research has analyzed user involvement in innovation projects, but without differentiating between projects carried out by an individual organization and those conducted by a partnership. This research contributes to filling this gap by revealing users' expectations about their involvement and how they think they will fit in with the dynamics of collaborative projects.
Keywords
Acknowledgements
This research is part of a project that has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No. 726840. This article reflects only the author’s view and the Research Executive Agency of the European Commission is not responsible for any use that may be made of the information that the article contains. This research has also received funds from the Spanish State Research Agency (PID2020-113905GB-I00, MCIN/AEI/10.13039/501100011033); the Regional Government of Aragón (S56-20R) and the Research Stays Funding program of CAI-Ibercaja Foundation (CH 4/20). This article has benefited from the interaction within the GOVTRUST Centre of Excellence (University of Antwerp, Belgium). The authors specifically want to thank Koen Verhoest (University of Antwerp), Erik Hans Klijn and Vidar Stevens (Erasmus University Rotterdam), Veiko Lember and Steven Nõmmik (Tallinn University of Technology), Vicente Pina, Sonia Royo, Lourdes Torres (University of Zaragoza), and Lena Brogaard (Roskilde University) for their valuable contribution in the data collection phases of the research.
Citation
García-Rayado, J. and Callens, C. (2024), "Users' involvement in digital health collaborative projects", Journal of Health Organization and Management, Vol. 38 No. 1, pp. 129-148. https://doi.org/10.1108/JHOM-04-2023-0118
Publisher
:Emerald Publishing Limited
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