Determining the importance of hospital information system adoption factors using fuzzy analytic network process (ANP)

Abstract

The Hospital Information System (HIS) is a computer system aimed at providing a paperless environment that covers all aspects of the hospital's operation such as clinical, administrative, and financial systems. The aim of this study is to provide more insight within the context of Malaysia to understand the potential factors that importantly driving or inhibiting the decision of HIS adoption from non-adopters' perspective. This study mainly integrates the diffusion of innovation theory, technology-organization-environment framework, institutional theory along with human-organization-technology fit model that can be tailored in understanding of the HIS adoption by Malaysian public hospitals. In this regard, the initial model is designed by considering four main dimensions (Technology, Environment, Human, Organization) with seventeen variables based on reviewing of the existing extensive literature of information system in particular information technology adoption in line with prior HIS adoption studies. Accordingly, a Fuzzy Analytic Network Process (ANP), one of the Multi Criteria Decision Making (MCDM) techniques, model is developed to determine the most important factors among the four categories for the HIS adoption in the context of Malaysian public hospitals. These factors are identified and compared by 20 hospital experts and decision makers, who are fully familiar of HIS technology with also professional management and decision-making experience in hospitals. Then fuzzy ANP is applied to compute the weights of incorporated factors in the HIS adoption. The results reveal that hospitals with compatibility, complexity, mimetic pressure and vendor support are more likely to adopt HIS. Hence, the decision to adopt HIS is mainly determined by technological and environmental context. The study and its findings have resulted in theoretical contributions and research implications where the integrated theoretical model serves as a tool for healthcare industry to gain insight into the process of HIS adoption.