Organizational, technical and perceived readiness as adoption factors for wireless technology in healthcare: an Australian case study

Abstract

Traditional adoption theories in Information Systems have identified various determinants for adoption of technology. The applicability of these determinants is questionable in the domain of healthcare because this is a unique environment, where healthcare professionals are dealing with time sensitive data. Furthermore, these adoption theories have predominantly explored desktop environment where users access data using a computer. ON the other hand, in an emerging technology environment, such as the wireless technology, data are pushed onto users’ hand. Thus, the emerging environment is radically different to the desktop environment. Therefore, this study explored the adoption issues applicable to an Australian healthcare environment where wireless technology would be used. The study administered a survey to healthcare professionals to explore their views and opinion about organizational readiness (OR, technical readiness (TR), and perceived readiness (PR) on the intention to using wireless handheld technology in healthcare setting. The finding shows that Australian healthcare professionals value organizational and technological readiness factors in addition to “ease of use” and “usefulness”.