Social capital and competitive advantage in healthcare institutions: A systematic review

Since the relationship between social capital and competitive advantage in the health market constitutes the social dimension of competition, it is important in terms of social capital measurement efforts found in the literature recently. In this study, since the relationship between social capital and competitive advantage is examined as a part of the main problematic in the studies carried out by many authors, it is aimed to present a general perspective on other concepts that mediate the relationship with the systematic review method, and to reveal the value of the studies in terms of literature and to talk about the subjects in the future in terms of the subjects on which the studies are concentrated. The aim of the study is to conduct a guideline study for the determination of the study subjects in the meta-analysis studies to be conducted on the relationship. This study was carried out using the systematic review method. It has been determined that 39 of the 961 articles listed as a result of the search made using the determined English search phrases in the EBSCO and SCOPUS academic search engines, which were reported in the form of articles related to social capital and competitive advantage in health institutions, between 2010-2022. The titles and abstracts of 922 articles were examined and 130 articles were viewed for detailed analysis. The articles were examined in terms of literature value and relevance to the study subject using the Downs and Black literature scoring scale developed by Downs and Black (1998). Evaluations were made by a single author. As a result, 20 articles on competition in health institutions and 25 articles on social capital and competitive advantage in health institutions were included in the study. It was considered that the risk of systematic error and selection bias of the study was high since the articles within the scope of the study were cited by a single author. As a result of the study, it was concluded that studies focusing on the relationship between social capital and competitive advantage in health institutions are of great importance in terms of search devoted to improve the welfare of the society. The relationship between this two concept on the base of health care institutions is related to many concepts. It has been evaluated that leadership, health workers burnout, job satisfaction and performance are suitable subject in that contex for meta-analysis study since they are extensively studied in the literature. And structural equation modeling will be an important method for factor analysis in terms of quantitative studies. Key words: Social Capital, Competition, Competitive Advantage, Health Institutions, Social Relations, Social Networks.