Healthcare technology adoption: a social-organisational perspective

Type of content
Theses / Dissertations
Publisher's DOI/URI
Thesis discipline
Degree name
Master of Science
Publisher
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Language
English
Date
2024
Authors
Watson, Jake Marshall
Abstract

The medical technology industry, valued at almost a trillion dollars annually, holds significant societal and individual impacts, where advancements are crucial for improving healthcare outcomes. However, the adoption of new healthcare technologies has a success rate of only 30-60%, highlighting a substantial challenge. This is particularly important given the current strain on healthcare because of underfunding, overworking, and an ageing workforce. It is evident from previous research that sufficient healthcare technology plays a pivotal role in addressing this problem. Moreover, previous frameworks pay little attention to socio-organisational factors. Therefore, the current research aims to explore how socio-organisational factors impact healthcare technology adoption. A sequential mixed methods exploratory design constituted of two phases was employed. Firstly, archival data was thematically analysed to explore general barriers and enablers of healthcare technology adoption. Secondly, a quantitative survey was administered to healthcare professionals to which regression and t-test analyses were performed. Data was collected on organisational and social aspects of HCT adoption, including relevant relationships, communication, and innovation culture. Moreover, enablers such as patient outcomes, usability, co-design, and workload accommodations were assessed as well. Results from thematic analysis found seven themes, these were: relationships, the nature of clinical work, the psychology of clinicians, culture, communication, training, and technology characteristics. Qualitative analyses gleaned further insight, proving relationships as a key predictor of technology adoption success. Results also revealed differences in importance between hardware and software regarding communication and training. This thesis highlights the necessity of encompassing socio-organizational factors in HCT adoption studies. For practitioners it demonstrates the importance of considering relationships, co-design, and targeting effective communication and training at specific modalities of technology.

Description
Citation
Keywords
Ngā upoko tukutuku/Māori subject headings
ANZSRC fields of research
Rights
All Rights Reserved