Identifying benefits and barriers for IS adoption : a sociotechnical framework applied to health care

Abstract

The aim of this research is to propose a sociotechnical framework to identify stakeholders involved in information systems and the benefit and barriers to the adoption of such systems. The proposed framework (BEBAF) would help to acknowledge the potential problematic areas for the implementation and adoption of information systems for each actor or social group and to be able to offer solutions based on the potential benefits for each of them. Precursors of BEBAF are social construction of technology (SCOT) and stakeholder identification process. Two case studies in the healthcare contexts, one in the UK and one in Spain, have been conducted in this dissertation using a qualitative approach to provide a rich picture of the influences on e-Health, and the users and organisational response to those influences. Both case studies aimed to support chronically ill patients at home or in nursing homes. BEBAF was then applied to both case studies. Among the most important implications are that those systems hold the promise for improving the quality of life of patients with chronic conditions, providing a better control over the disease. However, their impact on the organisational structures, the lack of funding and the difficulties of alignment of all the actors involved are relevant constraints to their adoption into the mainstream healthcare services. The main contributions of this thesis are: first, the definition and evaluation of a socio-technical framework to investigate IS adoption. Apart from the two closure mechanisms proposed by SCOT, BEBAF proposes a new closure mechanism by reinterpretation of benefits. In turn, the application of the framework has led to identify an extensive list of barriers and benefits for the adoption of e-Health systems with some suggested solutions. Another outcome is a comprehensive list of stakeholders involved in the adoption of such systems.EThOS - Electronic Theses Online ServiceGBUnited Kingdo