¹College of Business Administration, University of South Florida, Tampa, FL, U.S.A.

Correspondence: Anol Bhattacherjee, College of Business Administration, University of South Florida, 4202 East Fowler Avenue, CIS 1040, Tampa, FL 33620, U.S.A. Tel: +1 813 974 6760; E-mail: abhatt@coba.usf.edu

Received 28 February 2007; Revised 27 June 2007; Re-revised 3 September 2007; Accepted 27 September 2007.

Abstract

This paper presents a theoretical model of physician resistance of healthcare information technology (HIT) usage by integrating the technology acceptance and resistance to change literatures, using a dual-factor model of technology usage. This model elaborates the interdependent and asymmetric effects of inhibiting usage perceptions, such as resistance, on HIT usage intentions relative to enabling perceptions, such as perceived usefulness and perceived ease of use. It also proposes perceived threat as a predictor of resistance, perceived compatibility as predicting perceived usefulness, and related knowledge as predicting perceived ease of use. The resulting model is empirically supported using a field survey of a computerized physician order entry system among 129 practicing physicians at a large acute-care hospital. Our study illustrates the importance of incorporating user resistance in technology usage studies in general and HIT usage studies in particular, grounds resistance research within extant theories of technology usage, and provides a preliminary model of resistance that can serve as the starting point for future research in this relatively unexplored yet potentially fertile area of research.