EXPLORING USER RESISTANCE AND TECHNOLOGY ADOPTION FACTORS IN HEALTHCARE

Purpose: Substantial numbers of new health care information systems are being implemented in order to reduce costs by streamlining work processes.  Radio frequency identification (RFID) technology is being incorporated into some of these information systems to reduce health care costs by tracking identifying and monitoring individuals and medical equipment.  Individuals' information privacy concerns may heighten user resistance to these new information systems and increase implementation failure rates.  Trust has been found to partially mediate the effect of information privacy concerns on behavioral intention (Malhotra, Kim, and Agarwal 2004).  The purpose of this pilot study is to research how clinic employee information privacy concerns, trust in a vendor, trust in the IT artifact, and technology adoption factors contribute to user resistance towards a new RFID employee tracking information system implementation.  The Theory of Reasoned Action (TRA) is the technology adoption framework used to model the relevant factors to user resistance. 

Methods: A quantitative, cross-sectional, survey research design was selected to explore the behavioral beliefs and user resistance intentions of employees at a single medical clinic of a hospital in the New England region of the United States.  The survey consists of ten demographic questions and fifty-five measurement items related to behavioral concepts including user resistance, information privacy concerns, vendor trust in the vendor, trust in the IT artifact, disposition to trust, perceived ease of use, perceived usefulness, reputation, subjective norms and perceived voluntariness. 

Results:  Preliminary data analysis of user resistance structural equation models have identified vendor trust and perceived usefulness as direct antecedents.  Information privacy concerns and perceived ease of use have also been identified as having an indirect effect on user resistance.  As data is collected from additional clinics, further factors such as disposition to trust, reputation and trust in the IT artifact are anticipated to contribute to user resistance to an information system implementation.

Conclusion: Exploring factors related to technology adoption resistance and facilitation can potentially help the health care system adapt to a changing environment.