Summary
Objectives: The primary aim of this study was to assess the antecedents of health information
technology (HIT) innovativeness in public hospitals. To do so, we built upon our own
previous work to relate the level of HIT innovativeness to organizational capacity
characteristics.
Methods: We conducted a survey of chief information officers (CIOs) in public hospitals in
the two largest Canadian provinces to identify the level of HIT innovativeness in
these settings and test nine research hypotheses derived from the proposed research
model.
Results: A total of 106 completed questionnaires were received, which represents a response
rate of 52%. Our findings indicate strong support for the research model. Seven out
of nine hypotheses were supported indicating a significant relationship between HIT
innovativeness and structural, financial, leadership, and knowledge sharing capacity
characteristics. Results also reveal a moderate level of HIT innovativeness in the
surveyed hospitals, with more emphasis on administrative systems and their integration
than on clinical systems and emerging technologies.
Conclusions: This study demonstrates that organizational characteristics are related to HIT innovativeness;
this relationship holds irrespective of the public or private nature of hospitals.
Keywords
Health information technology - innovativeness - hospitals - organizational characteristics
- survey
