Evaluating the Sustainable Competitive Advantage of Saudi e-Healthcare System: An Empirical Study

Fahad M Al-Anezi College of Business Administration, Department Management Information Systems, Imam Abdulrahman Bin Faisal University, Dammam, Saudi ArabiaCorrespondence: Fahad M Al-Anezi, Email [email protected] Purpose: This study seeks to investigate the various dimensions contributing to the sustainable competitive advantage of the Saudi eHealthcare system.Methods: A cross-sectional survey design was adopted in this study. Eleven factors were identified that may affect the sustainable competitive advantage, which were embedded in to the survey questionnaire. Participants included diverse healthcare workers (physicians, specialist physicians, nurses, managers) from Saudi public hospitals. A total of 382 healthcare workers participated in the study.Results: User experience and accessibility emerged as the most significant factor with a high mean of 4.04 ± 0.69, followed by innovation and continuous improvement (mean 3.8 ± 0.89) and AI adoption (mean 3.91 ± 0.82). Notably, a statistically significant difference is observed in the domain of Data Security and Privacy (p = 0.0448), with specialist physicians exhibiting a lower mean score (2.44 ± 0.86) compared to other roles.Conclusion: The need to strengthen overall competitiveness is emphasized by identified areas for improvement, including data security, interoperability, and integration, which highlight the necessity for specific initiatives.Keywords: artificial intelligence, eHealth, eHealthcare, sustainable, competitive advantage