Exploring factors affecting the adoption intention toward the integration of traditional Chinese and Western medicine as a disruptive innovation in the health-care service industry

Abstract

The health care industry in a society plays a significant role for the welfare of people and the advance of medical engineering/bio-technology alike. However, increasing investment in acquiring the sophisticated instruments and world-patented drug prescription quells people's hope to afford the health care service, unless insurance policy allows the access. Concurred with Christensen's framework of disruptive innovation in health care delivery, we observe that the integration of traditional Chinese and Western medicine entitles itself to disrupt the incumbent health care system. Based on Roger's innovation diffusion model and Davies' technology adoption model we propose a framework to explore the influential factors and their interrelationship with customer's adoption intention towards the integration of traditional Chinese and Western Medicine. Hypotheses are made to conceptualize this theoretical framework and allow the methodology of structure equation modeling (SEM) to test the theory. The objective is to identify the causal links of customer perception and motivation towards the integration with construct such as customer's adoption attitude and intention. The outcome of this study makes a contribution in providing insights for the development of appropriate business model for health care service industry.