Practicing stakeholder partnership in Indonesia’s primary clinic sector: Managing networking capabilities, collaborative engagement, and the healthcare ecosystems

Type of the article: Research ArticleAbstractThis study investigates how networking capabilities shape collaborative engagement, healthcare ecosystem development, and stakeholder partnerships among local primary clinics in Indonesia, a sector facing persistent resource and connectivity constraints. Using a quantitative survey of 370 clinic managers across the archipelago, we applied partial least squares structural equation modelling (PLS-SEM) to test the hypothesized relationships. The findings reveal that networking capabilities significantly enhance collaborative engagement (β = 0.727, p < 0.001), strengthen the healthcare ecosystem (β = 0.677, p < 0.001), and improve stakeholder partnership effectiveness (β = 0.296, p < 0.001). Both collaborative engagement and healthcare ecosystem quality further contribute positively to partnership outcomes, with the model explaining 58.7% of the variance. The results conclude that primary clinics with stronger networking capabilities are more likely to integrate into broader healthcare ecosystems and build effective, trust-based stakeholder partnerships. In practical terms, this study highlights the importance of clinic managers investing in relationship-building, multisectoral collaboration, and knowledge-sharing platforms, while policymakers are encouraged to support these efforts through regulations and incentives that connect clinics to wider healthcare networks.