Physicians' resistance toward healthcare information technology: a theoretical model and empirical test

AbstractThis paper presents a theoretical model of physician resistance of healthcare information technology (HIT) usage by integrating the technology acceptance and resistance to change literatures, using a dual-factor model of technology usage. This model elaborates the interdependent and asymmetric effects of inhibiting usage perceptions, such as resistance, on HIT usage intentions relative to enabling perceptions, such as perceived usefulness and perceived ease of use. It also proposes perceived threat as a predictor of resistance, perceived compatibility as predicting perceived usefulness, and related knowledge as predicting perceived ease of use. The resulting model is empirically supported using a field survey of a computerized physician order entry system among 129 practicing physicians at a large acute-care hospital. Our study illustrates the importance of incorporating user resistance in technology usage studies in general and HIT usage studies in particular, grounds resistance research within extant theories of technology usage, and provides a preliminary model of resistance that can serve as the starting point for future research in this relatively unexplored yet potentially fertile area of research.Keywords: healthcare information technologyresistancedual-factor modelsurvey researchcomputerized physician order entry Notes1 An initial version of this paper was presented at the Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences (HICSS), Hawaii, in January 2007.Additional informationNotes on contributorsAnol BhattacherjeeAbout the authorAnol Bhattacherjee is a Professor of Information Systems in the College of Business at the University of South Florida. His research interests are diffusion and use of information technology innovations, applications of information technology in healthcare, and knowledge transfer in social networks. His research has been published in MIS Quarterly, Information Systems Research, Journal of MIS, Decision Sciences, and various other journals. Anol holds Ph.D. and M.B.A. degrees from University of Houston, and M.S. and B.S. degrees from Indian Institute of Technology (India). He also serves in the current editorial board of MIS Quarterly.Neset HikmetNeset Hikmet is the Director of the Center for Research in Healthcare Systems and Policies and an Associate Professor of Information Systems in the College of Business at the University of South Florida. His research interests are the use of information technology and the economics of information technology investments in healthcare organizations. His research has been published in Information Systems Management, Communications of the ACM, International Journal of Medical Informatics, and various other journals. Neset holds M.B.A. and Ph.D. degrees from the University of Rhode Island and B.S. degree from Middle East Technical University, Ankara, Turkey.