Influence of Social Moderators in the Internet of Things of Srilankan Healthcare Services

Abstract

The globalization of healthcare enables us with the lens to look at the future through the economical globalization of the country and as the infrastructure for a better mankind. Healthcare in modern era is more of a system that connects health technologies, services and application provided to public health. The smart rehabilitation based on Internet of Things (IoT) was introduced very recently mainly to overcome issues of scarce resource caused by growing aging population. On the other hand, shortage of doctors is a much critical issue where the crowded hospitals and long waiting list to seek doctors as well as less time spend for consultation are because of mal distribution of doctors. This study attempted to evaluate the impact of the technological acceptance determinants on adoption towards IoT in the healthcare system and evaluate the moderating effect of provincial area as well as demographic factors in adoption towards IoT in the Srilankan hospitals. The primitive purpose of this study is to provide Healthcare departments and agencies including; hospitals, pharmacies, pharmaceutical companies to develop a balanced idea of the expectations of the users of IoT. The framework of the study was adopted by combining the Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology (UTAUT) and UTAUT2 models. The structural models of the research were generated using SPSS V26 and AMOS V26. Hypotheses were tested through the proposed final model of the study. The research revealed that provincial area moderate Social influence, Facilitating condition and perceived creditability in adoption towards IoT in the healthcare system. The finding of this study discovered that younger physicians are more likely to adopt IoT products. Hence IoT marketers might consider targeting young physicians who like to explore new technologies. This study also implicated that physicians who have sufficient resources and knowledge toward IoT at hospital have a higher intention to adopt. the research. However, the IoT technology is still in its early premature stage of development and requires an intense evangelization. To a certain extent, this research had identified the critical factors that impact adoption towards IoT in healthcare industry in the Sri Lankan context and suggests that health care organizations should create awareness of IoT products to increase physician’s adoption towards IoT.