'Just what the doctor ordered': A revised UTAUT for EMR system adoption and use by doctors

Abstract

Electronic medical record (EMR) systems can deliver many benefits to healthcare organizations and the patients they serve. However, one of the biggest stumbling blocks in garnering these benefits is the limited adoption and use by doctors. We employ the unified theory of acceptance and use of technology (UTAUT) as the theoretical foundation and adapt the theory to the context of EMR system adoption and use by doctors. Specifically, we suggest that age will be the only significant moderator, and gender, voluntariness and experience will not play significant moderating roles. We tested our model in a longitudinal study over a 7-month period in a hospital implementing a new EMR system. We collected 3 waves of survey data from 141 doctors and used system logs to measure use. While the original UTAUT only predicted about 20% of the variance in intention, the modified UTAUT predicted 44%. Both models were comparable in their prediction of use. In addition to contributing to healthcare IT and UTAUT research, we hope this work will serve as a foundation for future work that integrates UTAUT with other theoretical perspectives.