User’s Characteristics and Its Role in the Diffusion of Health Information Technology in the Private Hospitals in Dohuk

Abstract

The diffusion of health information technology (IT) is still one of the most important issues in this sector. The main reason behind this issue is that health IT is employed in an institutional environment characterized by high technical complexity, and this makes the processes of change towards the adoption and diffusion of health IT are difficult, especially with resisting change by some staff are working in health institutions. The current study came to identify the user’s characteristics that impact the diffusion of IT. The study has been designed based on the literature of information systems and includes four constructs: personal innovativeness, self-efficacy, the user's attitude towards technology, and trust in information technology. Concerning the sample, it included the health staff working in six private hospitals in the city of Dohuk, and a questionnaire was built based on the previous studies as a tool to collect data, and the number of study sample individuals was (233). The main result of the study is that there is a significant effect of user characteristics (at the level of each characteristic and at the macro level) on the diffusion of health IT. This result is prove that the process of diffusion IT applications depends mainly on the characteristics obtained by users that support the diffusion process. The study recommends to pay more attention to the user’s characteristics, such as personal Innovations, enhancing his self-efficacy, contributing to building his positive attitude towards technology and enhancing the trust in IT, due to its role in diffusing the health IT.