Theory Meets Practice: A Proposal Concerning Information Systems Research in Nursing Informatics

This proposal provides an avenue where theory meets practice to enlighten information systems (IS) researchers and nursing informatics personnel domestic and abroad about factors that impact acceptance of technologies supporting ubiquitous IS access. Models were qualitatively developed concerning acceptance based on data from nurses involved in electronic documentation of patient care in four US hospital settings. The intent now is to assess the explanatory power of the models and identity variance contributed by national and organizational culture. These models expand the Theory of Planned Behavior (Ajzen, 1991) and Task-Technology Fit (Goodhue and Thompson, 1995) to describe the impact of (1) evolved behaviors (i.e., innate drives to acquire, bond, defend, and learn (Lawrence and Nohria, 2002)) and (2) novel types of fit that influence acceptance in various task environments. The underlying premise is that patient care efficiencies increase when IS personnel consider these factors in the systems analysis and design process.