Leapfrogging for Modern ICT Usage in the Health Care Sector

Health Care has traditionally been dominated by a strong professional culture, to which information and communications technology has not maybe fitted in the optimal way. Currently, however, strong currents are changing the intellectual climate in the field. Modern information and communications technology is being taken into usage in the Health Care sector at an increasing pace. This article provides and overview of the activities related to modern information and communications technology in the Health Care Sector. Our research questions are: 1. Which reasons led to the late adoption of modern ICT in the Health Care sector? 2. Why is the situation now changing fast? 3. Which seem to be the main application areas? 4. Which kind of progress we can now see? To each of the research questions, we allocate one chapter in our paper. This article is conceptual in nature, but argumentation is supported by concrete examples. The main conclusions are that • Starting from “scratch” has made a fast development in the field possible as it comes to modern ICT • Developments have been very fast: on the other hand demand for information and ICT has too grown enormously • ICT has been a total change agent for the industry, and a needed one • Fast introduction of modern ICT has been made possible through the simultaneous introduction of many modern management techniques such as quality assurance • Internet was and is the “killer platform” in this industry too • The whole sector has turned from a handicraft industry to knowledge industr

Network externalities in biometrical identification

Biometrical identification has not been adopted to be a key technology in computer security as was hoped for, or to the extent the sophistication of the technology would promise. One reason for this might be that the application of biometrical identification has not yet gained wide enough scale, which leads to missing positive network externalities.In this paper the concepts of biometrical identification and network externalities are discussed, and an analysis is performed on why missing positive network externalities are hampering the advance of biometrical identification

Understanding e-Service Users’ WOM Behavior from Expectation Confirmation Perspective

Recently WOM has become popular with the penetration of Internet and the popularity of social media, and attracted the attention of IS researchers. This study develops a model to explore the factors motivating e-service users’ WOM behavior from the expectation confirmation paradigm together with trust. The research model was empirical tested with 543 valid responses from the online travel service users. The research results indicate that perceived usefulness and user satisfaction affect e-service users’ WOM behavior positively together with trust. Perceived usefulness was found to exert the strongest influence on WOM than satisfaction and trust. The implications to theories and practice are discussed as well

Determinants and Effects of User Delight with Theme Park Apps

The rise of mobile apps intended to enhance the customer experience has prompted theme park operators to implement theme park apps with which to improve their relationships with visitors. The value of user delight in theme park apps has attracted considerable attention. To develop a delightful theme park app, however, theme park operators require a more detailed understanding of how they can optimize the impacts of theme park apps. By conducting an empirical study of 204 users of theme park apps through an online survey, this study found that delight has substantial impacts on users’ continuance intention, recommendation, offering feedback, and revisit intention regarding theme parks. Additionally, delight is determined by entertainment, aesthetic design, and achievement-related gamification. This study contributes to the literature on delight in the context of theme park apps and offers practical implications for theme park app designers and operators

ICT Infrastructure and Network Externalities– two forgotten concepts in Finnish discussion on health care information systems

Finland is flooded with ambitious projects to build nationwide health care information system solutions. A key issue to emerge is how to engage potential users, both at individual and organizational levels, to accept these systems and take them into intensive and productive use. Acceptance might be hard to find, as financial calculations showing positive payback on investments to organizations are hard to produce. What should maybe stressed more is that the systems in building phase will bring considerable benefit through infrastructure level services and resulting network externalities to the user community. These two key concepts are shortly discussed in this article, and their application in the health care information systems environment is illustrated