Using the Lens of Affordances to Unpack Tangible Forms of Digitalization-Enabled Social Value in the Bahamian Public Healthcare System

Newswise — We study how digitalization creates tangible forms of social value in the underexplored context of Small Island Developing States (SIDS), and specifically in the Bahamian Public Healthcare System (PHS). We adopt an affordances perspective and draw on 21 interviews with practicing healthcare professionals and administrators. Our analysis reveals five tangible forms of social value (or affordances), detailing what specific technical capabilities of digitalization lead to social value generation, and what problems they address within the Bahamian PHS. The five affordances are: interconnectivity, effective communication, standardization of knowledge, capacity maximization, and data security. We make two contributions: (a) linking recognized types of social value in the existing literature to specific tangible forms of social value; and (b) empirically advancing the Information and Communication Technology for Development (ICT4D) field by explaining what local problems the five forms of value address.