Business & Management Research Centre: Magno Queiroz
Magno Queiroz
College of Business, Florida Atlantic University
Performance Shortfalls, Policy Uncertainty, and the Search for Digital Advantage in U.S. Hospitals
Date: Friday, February 27, 2026
Time: 10:30 am - 12:00 pm EDT
Location: Bronfman Building, Room 410
All are cordially invited to attend.
About:
Hospitals are increasingly searching for health information technology (HIT) solutions in efforts to achieve digital advantage, which refers to the technological edge relative to competitors across a composite of technologies. However, the current understanding of the drivers behind hospitals’ digital advantage remains limited. This is an important issue for managers given that digital advantage can create performance benefits for hospitals. In this study, we examine how and when hospitals attain digital advantage. Drawing on problemistic search and institutional theories, we hypothesize that shortfalls in operational and reputational performance motivate technological search that underpins hospitals’ digital advantage. Further, we hypothesize that policy uncertainty has differential moderating effects on the two relationships. We test our theory from a panel dataset of 2,020 U.S. hospitals spanning 2007 to 2017. We find that shortfalls in operational and reputational performance influence hospital digital advantage. However, as policy uncertainty increases, the relationship between operational performance shortfall and digital advantage strengthens, while the relationship between reputational performance shortfall and digital advantage weakens. Our study contributes to research by explaining that operational and reputational performance shortfalls have non-equivalent impacts on digital advantage and identifying the policy uncertainty conditions under which their impacts are stronger or weaker. Our work has implications to practice as it helps decision makers understand hospitals’ search behaviors in the presence of performance shortfalls and the role that policy uncertainty plays in their efforts to achieve a technological edge.
