An Exploratory Study on Physicians' Diligence when Dealing with Patient Data

Proceedings of the 18th European Conference on Information Systems (ECIS 2010), June 6-9, 2010, Pretoria, South Africa

Posted: 29 Sep 2012

See all articles by Cornelia Kuckein

Cornelia Kuckein

affiliation not provided to SSRN

Michael Schermann

Santa Clara University - Operations and Management Information Systems

Ali Sunyaev

University of Cologne; Karlsruhe Institute of Technology

Helmut Krcmar

Technische Universität München (TUM)

Date Written: 2010

Abstract

Recent history shows an increasing number of privacy breaches, usually attributed to a lack of diligence when handling personal data. Little awareness for privacy concerns is asserted as the pivotal negative effect on diligence. Challenging this conventional wisdom, this study shows that physicians are fully aware of the privacy issues. Their lack of diligence mainly results from a trade-off between the prospected consequences resulting from a privacy breach and the impediments diligent data handling has on the actual workflow of the physicians. Based on the grounded theory method, we chose hospitals as research field since patient data is commonly perceived as especially sensitive. We add to the body of knowledge by emphasizing the role of actors processing personal data in contrast to existing research that focuses on the behavior of affected actors, such as consumers. In sum, we provide a new perspective on the factors leading to privacy breaches.

Keywords: Privacy, Healthcare, Hospital, Patient Data, Workflow Impediments

Suggested Citation

Kuckein, Cornelia and Schermann, Michael and Sunyaev, Ali and Krcmar, Helmut, An Exploratory Study on Physicians' Diligence when Dealing with Patient Data (2010). Proceedings of the 18th European Conference on Information Systems (ECIS 2010), June 6-9, 2010, Pretoria, South Africa, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=2152995

Cornelia Kuckein

affiliation not provided to SSRN ( email )

Michael Schermann

Santa Clara University - Operations and Management Information Systems ( email )

500 El Camino Real
Santa Clara, CA 95053
United States

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

Helmut Krcmar

Technische Universität München (TUM) ( email )

Arcisstrasse 21
Munich, DE 80333
Germany

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