Corporate governance and the environment in the health sector: Systematic literature review

Abstract

This study aims to explore the different forms of corporate governance in the health sector, how they interact, and analyze the emerging research trend through a systematic literature review (SLR) in the period 2015-2019. The Scopus and ISI Web of Science databases were used to select the 167 articles analyzed. The coverage of corporate governance research was centred on adapting the PRISMA analysis, highlighting the environment which corporate governance belongs to and analysis of the co-occurrence of the keywords used in the studies. Through Grounded theory, a conceptual model was developed, emphasizing the main attributes that influence governance at the macro-, meso- and micro-levels, in the health area, and raising a future agenda for future research in this area: (1) quality of health care, (2) corporate social responsibility in health, (3) health risk management and (4) global health governance. The results of this research aim to guide governments towards emerging regulatory trends, warning about the risks of the impact of corporate governance on health, or the lack of it, on the quality of services. Analysis of the quality of health care is intrinsically related to the environment, although this aspect has received little attention from researchers.