Nexus of COVID-19 Crises and Health Care Performance in Jordan: The Moderation Role of Telemedicine, Innovation, and Infrastructure

Abstract

The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic in Jordan has brought terrifying effects on hospital management performance worldwide. The ultimate purpose is to generate empirical knowledge and open research opportunities into future studies. Investigating critical resource-based factors would significantly contribute to the growing body of knowledge that informs policies and programs for mitigating the negative effects of the pandemic on the administration of Jordan's healthcare sector. To this end, we surveyed a sample of 418 managers in the Jordanian health sector. To produce numeric data and to test the hypotheses, the researchers employed structural equation modeling, specifically using the PLS-SEM technique. This study argues that the COVID-19 pandemic has had a profound negative impact on hospital performance in Jordan. Telemedicine, innovation, and infrastructure exhibit a significant and positive direct influence on management performance. As a result, this study accepts two hypotheses pertaining to the moderating influence of telemedicine and infrastructure in mitigating the negative consequences of COVID-19 on performance. However, the hypothesis related to the moderating role of innovation in the impact of COVID-19 on performance is rejected. The pandemic has presented unprecedented challenges to the healthcare sector, necessitating the development of effective management strategies to address the surge in patient volume and resource constraints. Telemedicine and healthcare infrastructure have been identified as critical resources with a significant moderating effect on healthcare management performance during this crisis. Telemedicine, as a technology-related resource, enables remote healthcare delivery, virtual consultations, and monitoring, which have become crucial during the pandemic.