Exploring Barriers to Innovation Diffusion in Health Care Service Organizations: An Issue for Effective Integration of Service Architecture and Information Technologies

Abstract

This study explores the diffusion of innovations in health care service organizations. The importance of the diffusion arises from the direct effect of innovations on the quality and efficiency of the sector. For this purpose, the diffusion barriers and mitigation processes are identified through an extensive literature research. Information technology (IT) is used as a case study representing the innovations in health care organizations. A conceptual model is built to lay out the relationships among factors affecting IT diffusion in health care organizations, impacts on the sector and actions that should be taken by the policy makers, managers and end-users for an effective IT integration into health care.