FROM EDUCATIONAL TO GREEN: THE TRANSFORMATION OF HOSPITAL IN INDONESIA

Abstract

The UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) require businesses to adopt sustainable practices. The sheer size of the healthcare industry and its digitally dominated practices require its constituents to adopt green practices. This current research, using Laughlin (1991) organizational change model as the theoretical underpinnings, aims to empirically explore the best practices to help healthcare sector constituents accomplish the ‘green status’ while successfully overcoming the associated financial challenges. University of Indonesia Hospital was used as the study ‘site’ to explore the sector’s peculiar challenges and the effective strategies that helped it accomplish the objective of green status.

Originality: The study introduces a unique perspective to investigating the challenges for the healthcare sector’s adoption of green practices by examining the specific strategies employed in the process of their transformation to green hospitals, while successfully confronting the associated economic challenges, using University of Indonesia Hospital  (UIH) as the case study sites.

Methods: Employing the qualitative method approach, the study acquired data from interviews with key personnel at UIH, and secondary data from its respective green initiatives and strategies.

Findings: The study provided valuable insights into the subject hospitals’ struggle in their pursuit of accomplishing green status, the potential economic obstacles and the strategies that proved effective. Industry and site-specific best practices that the study found to work to accomplish the aim of ‘green status’ include energy-efficient technologies, sustainable waste management systems, and green architectural designs. Economic challenges are primarily related to initial investment costs and lack of external funding. The findings were per the confines predicted under (Laughlin, 1991) theoretical underpinnings. The study outcomes emphasize a ‘holistic’ approach by healthcare institutions in light of Laughlin’s doctrine and calls for increased support from policymakers and stakeholders to facilitate such transitions, emphasizing the pivotal role of educational hospitals in promoting sustainability within the healthcare sector.