The effects of creating psychological ownership on physicians' acceptance of clinical information systems.
OBJECTIVE
Motivated by the need to push further our understanding of physicians' acceptance of clinical information systems, we propose a relatively new construct, namely, psychological ownership. We situated the construct within a nomological net using a prevailing and dominant information technology adoption behavior model as a logical starting point.


METHODS
A mail survey was sent to the population of users of a regional physician order entry (POE) system aimed at speeding up the transmission of clinical data, mainly laboratory tests and radiology examinations, within a community health network.


METHODS
All scales, but one, were measured using previously validated instruments. For its part, the psychological ownership scale was developed using a multistage iterative procedure.


RESULTS
Ninety-one questionnaires were returned to the researchers, for a response rate of 72.8%. Our findings reveal that, in order to foster physicians' adoption of a clinical information system, it is important to encourage and cultivate a positive attitude toward using the new system. In this connection, positive perception of the technology's usefulness is crucial. Second, results demonstrate that psychological ownership of a POE system is positively associated with physicians' perceptions of system utility and system user friendliness. Last, through their active involvement and participation, physicians feel they have greater influence on the development process, thereby developing feelings of ownership toward the clinical system.


CONCLUSIONS
Psychological ownership's highly significant associations with user participation and crucial beliefs driving technology acceptance behaviors among physicians affirm the value of this construct in extending our understanding of POE adoption.
Paré
Guy
G
HEC Montréal, 3000 Chemin de la Côte-Ste-Catherine, Montreal, Quebec, Canada H3T 2A7. guy.pare@hec.ca
Sicotte
Claude
C
Jacques
Hélène
H
D001291:Attitude of Health Personnel; D001292:Attitude to Computers; D003625:Data Collection; D006801:Humans; D007256:Information Systems / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D050316:Medical Order Entry Systems / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D010820:Physicians / Q000523:psychology*; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires