Exploring the motivators of technology adoption in healthcare

Abstract

This paper seeks to determine the motivators that affect the adoption of information technology (IT), specifically in modern healthcare systems, based on a case study in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). The aim is to identify, examine, and place in a hierarchical structure, based on a two-step exploratory methodology, the motivators for IT adoption of four main categories of healthcare stakeholders (employees, patients, UAE citizens and residents, and accredited foresight experts) via an analytic hierarchy process (AHP) model. AHP revealed the relative importance weights of the seven IT adoption motivators and their 41 sub-motivators. Government support was found to be the most important group of motivators, followed by knowledge sharing, infrastructure, green management, lean management, internal/external environment, and social sustainability. The paper facilitates improving technology adoption generally, specifically in the UAE’s healthcare system. A Pareto chart visually presents the ranking of all sub-factors to help supply-chain practitioners better allocate resources for IT implementation. Little research has examined the combined perspectives of various stakeholders, and no study has hitherto investigated the significant motivators of IT adoption in the UAEs’ healthcare industry. Including foresight experts is new in this domain. © 2019 Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group.

keywords: Future foresight, Healthcare, Healthcare information technology (HIT), Motivators, stakeholders