Knowledge Integration Through Resource Combining: The Case of a National Standard Framework for Hospital Design

Paper in proceeding, 2022

The hospital design process contains technical and organisational challenges. The paper investigates how the Swedish national healthcare project framework and database, Program for Technical Standard (PTS), is used to facilitate knowledge integration within and across hospital projects and the outcomes thereof. The study covers data from 7 Swedish regions based on 12 semi-structured interviews with 14 facility mangers, 2 property managers as well as the national system administrator for PTS. PTS is considered to support the design process; however, some actors also perceive that PTS as a standard is not compatible with the call for adaptation. By mapping how the specific resource, PTS, is combined differently in various resource constellations, the results show that the value is contingent on the integration (or lack of) of numerous technical and organisational resources interfaces within and across organisations, projects, and regions. In particular, the perceived value of using the standard framework relates to its integration with the client's internal resources and project processes, and the matureness of digital competence. The divergence of knowledge integration is shown to be present on a project level as well as on a national level among the regions.