A Study of the Key Sustainable Factors of Taiwan’s Community Care Centers

Abstract

In response to the aging society, community care centers have been widely established in Taiwan to take care of the elderly. However, these centers are primarily managed by nonprofit organizations that rely on government subsidies, thus, they lack managerial autonomy. By investigating the key factors influencing the sustainability of community care centers, this study aimed to assist organizations with reducing the risk of managerial uncertainty and promoting the sustainable development of the aging ecosystem. The modified Delphi method and fuzzy analytic hierarchy process were used to construct the key sustainable factors and rank their importance. Four major dimensions, which were management capability, financial and other resource utilization capability, professional care service capability, and customer value creation, along with 21 criteria, were summarized. Management capability had the greatest influence, followed by financial and other resource utilization capability; financial soundness occupied first place in the overall ranking among the criteria. Based on this study’s results, it is recommended that when evaluating the units managing the community care centers, their management capability and financial and other resource utilization capability should be evaluated first to reduce the dependence on the government and achieve the goal of sustainability.