Enabelers and Inhibitors of Healthcare Information Technology Adoption: Toward a Dual-Factor Model

This paper formulates, operationalizes, and empirically validates a dual-factor model of healthcare information technology (HIT) adoption, by taking into account both the enabling factors driving HIT adoption and the inhibiting factors constraining such adoption. Perceived usefulness and perceived ease of use were examined as enablers and perceived loss of control as an inhibitor. Using survey data on adoption of a new computerized patient order entry system among physicians at a community hospital, we demonstrate that inhibitors not only have a negative effect on one’s intention to adopt HIT systems, counteracting the positive effect of enablers, but also negatively bias some of the enabling perceptions. The overall negative impact posed by inhibitors may override and surpass any positive impact posed by a multitude of enablers. Implications of our findings for HIT research and practice are discussed.