Determi­nants of Physicians’ Technology Acceptance for e-Health in Ambulatory Care

International Journal of Medical Informatics (IJMI). DOI: 10.1016/j.​ijmedinf.2012.02.002. Online first

Posted: 28 Sep 2012

See all articles by Sebastian Duennebeil

Sebastian Duennebeil

Technische Universität München (TUM)

Ali Sunyaev

University of Cologne; Karlsruhe Institute of Technology

Ivo Blohm

University of St. Gallen

J. M. Leimeister

University of St. Gallen; University of Kassel - Information Systems

Helmut Krcmar

Technische Universität München (TUM)

Date Written: February 2, 2012

Abstract

Background: Germany is introducing a nation-wide telemedicine infrastructure that enables electronic health services. The project is facing massive resistance from German physicians, which has led to a delay of more than five years. Little is known about the actual burdens and drivers for adoption of e-health innovations by physicians.

Objective: Based on a quantitative study of German physicians who participated in the national testbed for telemedicine, this article extends existing technology acceptance models (TAM) for electronic health (e-health) in ambulatory care settings and elaborates on determinants of importance to physicians in their decision to use e-health applications.

Methods: This study explores the opinions, attitudes, and knowledge of physicians in ambulatory care to find drivers for technology acceptance in terms of information technology (IT) utilization, process and security orientation, standardization, communication, documentation and general working patterns. We identified variables within the TAM constructs used in e-health research that have the strongest evidence to determine the intention to use e-health applications.

Results: The partial least squares (PLS) regression model from data of 117 physicians showed that the perceived importance of standardization and the perceived importance of the current IT utilization (p < 0.01) were the most significant drivers for accepting electronic health services (EHS) in their practice. Significant influence (p < 0.05) was shown for the perceived importance of information security and process orientation as well as the documentation intensity and the e-health-related knowledge.

Conclusions: This study extends work gleaned from technology acceptance studies in healthcare by investigating factors which influence perceived usefulness and perceived ease of use of e-health services. Based on these empirical findings, we derive implications for the design and introduction of e-health services including suggestions for introducing the topic to physicians in ambulatory care and incentive structures for using e-health.

Keywords: Technology acceptance, TAM, e-Health, Ambulatory care, Telemedicine, Telematics, Germany, Determinants, Standardization, IT utilization, Process orientation

Suggested Citation

Duennebeil, Sebastian and Sunyaev, Ali and Blohm, Ivo and Leimeister, Jan Marco and Krcmar, Helmut, Determi­nants of Physicians’ Technology Acceptance for e-Health in Ambulatory Care (February 2, 2012). International Journal of Medical Informatics (IJMI). DOI: 10.1016/j.​ijmedinf.2012.02.002. Online first, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=2152929

Sebastian Duennebeil

Technische Universität München (TUM) ( email )

Arcisstrasse 21
Munich, DE 80333
Germany

Ali Sunyaev (Contact Author)

University of Cologne ( email )

Albertus-Magnus-Platz
Cologne, 50923
Germany

HOME PAGE: http://www.isq.uni-koeln.de

Karlsruhe Institute of Technology ( email )

Kaiserstraße 12
Karlsruhe, Baden Württemberg 76131
Germany

Ivo Blohm

University of St. Gallen ( email )

Müller-Friedberg-Strass 8
St. Gallen, 9000
Switzerland

Jan Marco Leimeister

University of St. Gallen ( email )

Varnbuelstr. 14
Saint Gallen, St. Gallen CH-9000
Switzerland

University of Kassel - Information Systems ( email )

Pfannkuchstraße 1
Kassel, 34121
Germany

Helmut Krcmar

Technische Universität München (TUM) ( email )

Arcisstrasse 21
Munich, DE 80333
Germany

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