Assessing midwifery services in Iran via the balanced scorecard framework.

This study investigates the impact of intra-organizational information, midwife job satisfaction and performance assessment on the quality of midwife services. The questions are empirically tested with survey data obtained from 276 midwives, specialist doctors and nurses, and mothers who recently gave birth in a cross-section of Iranian public healthcare organizations. The results from a structural equation model suggest that an improved performance assessment system leads to higher quality midwife services. In addition, the results indicate that midwife job satisfaction and intra-organizational information increases the quality of midwife services, both directly and indirectly, through the mediating effect of a performance assessment system. Our study contributes to the growing research exploring the interface between accounting and health issues by recognizing the importance of a performance assessment system of midwifery services via the balanced scorecard framework for understanding the quality of midwife services.