Title: PDA usage in healthcare professionals: testing an extended technology acceptance model

Authors: Huigang Liang, Yajiong Xue, Terry Anthony Byrd

Addresses: Department of IT & OM, College of Business, Florida Atlantic University, Fort Lauderdale, FL 33301, USA. ' Department of Management, College of Business, Auburn University, Auburn, AL 36849, USA. ' Department of Management, College of Business, Auburn University, Auburn, AL 36849, USA

Abstract: Personal Digital Assistants (PDAs) have attracted extensive attention in healthcare organisations because of their potential contribution to enhancing healthcare practice. Successful implantation of PDA is, to a large extent, confined by PDA acceptance by healthcare professionals. This study proposes an extended technology acceptance model (TAM) to predict actual PDA usage. The results support all the hypotheses. Consistent with prior research, perceived usefulness and perceived ease of use are dominant determinants of usage. Personal innovativeness was found to affect usage directly and indirectly through perceived ease of use. Perceived usefulness mediates the effects of job relevance, compatibility, and perceived ease of use on usage. Support also affects usage through perceived ease of use. Overall our proposed model can explain 61.6% of the variance in the healthcare professionals| PDA usage. Implications for IT management in healthcare organisations are discussed.

Keywords: compatibility; ease of use; healthcare professionals; job relevance; PDA; personal innovativeness; support; TAM; usefulness; e-healthcare; mobile communications.

DOI: 10.1504/IJMC.2003.003992

International Journal of Mobile Communications, 2003 Vol.1 No.4, pp.372 - 389

Published online: 10 May 2004 *

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