Necessity for a new technology acceptance model to predict adoption of wireless technology in healthcare

Abstract

Adoption of new technologies is researched in Information Systems (IS) literature for the past two decades, starting with the adoption of desktop computer technology to the adoption of electronic commerce technology. Issues that have been researched comprise of how users 'handle' various options available in software environment, their perceived opinion, barriers and challenges to adopting a new technology, IS development procedures that are directly impacting any adoption including interface designs and elements of human issues. However, literature indicates that the models proposed in the IS literature such as Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) are not suitable to specific settings to predict adoption of technology. Studies in the past few years have strongly concluded that TAM is not suitable in healthcare setting because it doesn't consider a myriad of factors influencing adoption technology adoption in healthcare. This paper discusses the problems in healthcare due to poor information systems development, factors that need to be considered while developing healthcare applications as these are complex and different from traditional MIS applications and derive a model that can be tested for adoption of new technology in healthcare settings. The contribution of this paper is in terms of building theory that is not available in the combined areas of Information Systems and healthcare.