Social contagion and information technology diffusion: The adoption of electronic medical records in U.S. hospitals

Management Science

Volumn 56, Issue 8, 2010, Pages 1219-1241

  Angst, Corey M ^a   Agarwal, Ritu ^b   Sambamurthy, V ^c   Kelley, Ken ^a  

^a UNIVERSITY OF NOTRE DAME   (United States)

^b UNIVERSITY OF MARYLAND   (United States)

^c MICHIGAN STATE UNIVERSITY   (United States)

Author keywords

Diffusion; Electronic medical record; Infectiousness; Propensity; Social contagion; Spatial and social proximity; Susceptibility

Indexed keywords

ELECTRONIC MEDICAL RECORD; INFECTIOUSNESS; PROPENSITY; SOCIAL CONTAGION; SOCIAL PROXIMITY; SUSCEPTIBILITY;

DIFFUSION; MEDICAL COMPUTING;

HOSPITALS;

EID: 77955630294     PISSN: 00251909     EISSN: 15265501     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1287/mnsc.1100.1183     Document Type: Article

References (130)

1. Abrahamson, E., G. Fairchild. 1999. Management fashion: Lifecycles, triggers, and collective learning processes. Admin. Sci. Quart. 44 708-740.
2. Abrahamson, E., L. Rosenkopf. 1993. Institutional and competitive bandwagons: Using mathematical modeling as a tool to explore innovation diffusion. Acad. Management Rev. 18 487-517.
3. Acs, Z. J., D. B. Audretsch, M. P. Feldman. 1994. R&D spillovers and recipient firm size. Rev. Econom. Statist. 76 336-340.
4. Ahuja, G. 2000. Collaboration networks, structural holes, and innovation: A longitudinal study. Admin. Sci. Quart. 45 425-455.
5. Angst, C. M., A. Desai, J. Wulff. 2006. State-level HIT activity and themes. CHIDS Res. Briefings 1 1-4.
6. Ash, J. S., D. W. Bates. 2005. Factors and forces affecting EHR system adoption: Report of a 2004 ACMI discussion. J. Amer. Medical Informatics Assoc. 12 8-12.
7. Ash, J. S., M. Berg, E. Coiera. 2004. Some unintended consequences of information technology in health care: The nature of patient care information system related errors. J. Amer. Medical Informatics Assoc. 11 104-112.
8. Ashforth, B. E., R. H. Humphrey. 1997. The ubiquity and potency of labeling in organizations. Organ. Sci. 8 43-58.
9. Attewell, P. 1992. Technology diffusion and organizational learning: The case of business computing. Organ. Sci. 3 1-19.
10. Bandura, A. 1977. Social Learning Theory. Prentice Hall, Englewood Cliffs, NJ.
11. BarNir, A., J. Gallaugher, P. Auger. 2003. Business process digitization, strategy, and the impact of firm age and size: The case of the magazine publishing industry. J. Bus. Venturing 18 789-814.
12. Bates, D. W. 2000. Using information technology to reduce rates of medication errors in hospitals. BritishMedical J. 320 788-791.
13. Bates, D. W. 2002. The quality case for information technology in healthcare. BMC Med. Inform. Decision Making 2 1-9.
14. Bates, D. W., M. Ebell, E. Gotlieb, J. Zapp, H. C. Mullins. 2003. A proposal for electronic medical records in U. S. primary care. J. Amer. Medical Informatics Assoc. 10 1-10.
15. Blau, J., K. Land, K. Redding. 1992. The expansion of religious affiliation: An explanation of the growth of church participation in the United States, 1850-1930. Social Sci. Res. 21 329-329.
16. Bower, A. G. 2005. The diffusion and value of healthcare information technology. Report, RAND Health, Santa Monica, CA, 1-77.
17. Breschi, S., F. Lissoni. 2001. Knowledge spillovers and local innovation systems: A critical survey. Indust. Corporate Change 10 975-1005.
18. Broadbent, M., P. Weill, D. St. Clair. 1999. The implications of information technology infrastructure for business process redesign. MIS Quart. 23 159-182.
19. Brynjolfsson, E., L. M. Hitt. 2000. Beyond computation: Information technology, organizational transformation and business performance. J. Econom. Perspect. 14 23-48.
20. Bush, G. W. 2004. President's State of the Union Address. January 20. Washington, DC.
21. Cacioppo, J. T., R. E. Petty, J. Sidera. 1982. The effects of salient self-schema on the evaluation of proattitudinal editorials: Topdown versus bottom-up message processing. J. Exp. Soc. Psych. 18 324-338.
22. Castaldo, S. 2008. Trust in Market Relationships. Edward Elgar Publishing, Northampton, MA.
23. Chaudhry, B., J. Wang, S. Wu, M. Maglione, W. Mojica, E. Roth, S. C. Morton, P. G. Shekelle. 2006. Systematic review: Impact of health information technology on quality, efficiency, and costs of medical care. Ann. Internal Medicine 144 E12-E22.
24. Christensen, C. M., J. H. Grossman, J. Hwang. 2009. The Innovator's Prescription: A Disruptive Solution for Health Care. McGraw-Hill, New York.
25. Cohen, J., P. Cohen, S. G. West, L. S. Aiken. 2003. Applied Multiple Regression/Correlation Analysis for the Behavioral Sciences, 3rd ed. Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Mahwah, NJ.
26. Daft, R. L. 1978. A dual-core model of organizational innovation. Acad. Management. J. 21 193-210.
27. Daft, R. L., K. E. Weick. 1984. Toward a model of organizations as interpretation systems. Acad. Management Rev. 9 284-295.
28. Damanpour, F. 1987. The adoption of technological, administrative, and ancillary innovations: Impact of organizational factors. J. Management 13 675-688.
29. Damanpour, F. 1991. Organizational innovation: A meta-analysis of effects of determinants and moderators. Acad. Management J. 34 555-590.
30. Debruyne, M., D. J. Reibstein. 2005. Competitor see, competitor do: Incumbent entry in new market Niches. Marketing Sci. 24 55-66.
31. Deephouse, D. 1996. Does isomorphism legitimate? Acad. Management J. 39 1024-1039.
32. DesRoches, C., E. Campbell, S. Rao, K. Donelan, T. Ferris, A. Jha, R. Kaushal, D. Levy, S. Rosenbaum, A. Shields. 2008. Electronic health records in ambulatory care: A national survey of physicians. New England J. Medicine 359 50-60.
33. Deutsch, M., H. B. Gerard. 1955. A study of normative and informational social influences upon individual judgment. J. Abnormal Soc. Psych. 51 629-636.
34. Dewar, R. D., J. E. Dutton. 1986. The adoption of radical and incremental innovations: An empirical analysis. Management Sci. 32 1422-1433.
35. DiMaggio, P., W. Powell. 1983. The iron cage revisited: Institutional isomorphism and collective rationality in organizational fields. Amer. Sociol. Rev. 48 147-160.
36. Dobbin, F., L. Edelman, J. Meyer, W. R. Scott, A. Swidler. 1988. The Expansion of Due Process in Organizations. Ballinger, Cambridge, MA.
37. Doring, T., J. Schnellenbach. 2006. What do we know about geographical knowledge spillovers and regional growth?: A survey of the literature. Regional Stud. 40 375-395.
38. Elson, R. B., D. P. Connelly. 1995. Computerized patient records in primary care: Their role in mediating guideline-driven physician behavior change. Arch. Family Medicine 4 698-705.
39. Federal Trade Commission and Department of Justice. 2004. Improving health care: A dose of competition. Report, Federal Trade Commission and Department of Justice, Washington, DC.
40. Fichman, R. G. 2000. The Diffusion and Assimilation of Information Technology Innovations. Pinnaflex Educational Resources, Cincinnati.
41. Fichman, R. G. 2001. The role of aggregation in the measurement of IT-related organizational innovation. MIS Quart. 25 427-455.
42. Fichman, R. G. 2004. Going beyond the dominant paradigm for information technology innovation research: Emerging concepts and methods. J. Assoc. Inform. Systems 5 314-355.
43. Fichman, R. G., C. F. Kemerer. 1997. The assimilation of software process innovations: An organizational learning perspective. Management Sci. 43 1345-1363.
44. Fichman, R. G., C. F. Kemerer. 1999. The illusory diffusion of innovation: An examination of assimilation gaps. Inform. Systems Res. 10 255-275.
45. Fisher, E., D. Wennberg, T. Stukel, D. Gottlieb, F. Lucas, E. Pinder. 2003a. The implications of regional variations in medicare spending. Part 1: The content, quality, and accessibility of care. Ann. Internal Medicine 138 273-287. (Pubitemid 36205924)
46. Fisher, E., D. Wennberg, T. Stukel, D. Gottlieb, F. Lucas, E. Pinder. 2003b. The implications of regional variations in medicare spending. Part 2: Health outcomes and satisfaction with care. Ann. Internal Medicine 138 288-298. (Pubitemid 36205925)
47. Fombrun, C., M. Shanley. 1990. What's in a name? Reputation building and corporate strategy. Acad. Management J. 33 233-258.
48. Gaba, V., A. Meyer. 2008. Crossing the organizational species barrier: How venture capital practices infiltrated the information technology sector. Acad. Management J. 51 976-998.
49. Gioia, D. A. 1986. Symbols, Scripts, and Sensemaking: Creating Meaning in the Organizational Experience. Jossey-Bass, San Francisco.
50. Gostin, L. O., J. Hodge. 2002. Personal privacy and common goods: A framework for balancing under the national health information privacy rule. Minnesota Law Rev. 86 1439-1479.
51. Gowrisankaran, G., J. Stavins. 2004. Network externalities and technology adoption: Lessons from electronic payments. RAND J. Econom. 35 260-276.
52. Greatbatch, D. H., C. P. Campion, P. Luff. 1995. How do desk-top computers affect the doctor-patient interaction? Family Practice 12 32-36.
53. Greve, H. 2005. Interorganizational learning and heterogeneous social structure. Organ. Stud. 26 1025-1047.
54. Greve, H. 2009. Bigger and safer: The diffusion of competitive advantage. Strategic Management J. 30 1-23.
55. Greve, H. R. 1995. Jumping ship: The diffusion of strategy abandonment. Admin. Sci. Quart. 40 444-473.
56. Greve, H. R., D. Strang, N. B. Tuma. 1995. Specification and estimation of heterogeneous diffusion processes. Sociol. Methodology 25 377-420.
57. Harrison, M., R. Koppel, S. Bar-Lev. 2007. Unintended consequences of information technologies in health care-An interactive sociotechnical analysis. J. Amer. Medical Informatics Assoc. 14 542-549.
58. Hartley, C., E. Jones. 2005. EHR Implementation: A Step-By-Step Guide for the Medical Practice. American Medical Association, Chicago.
59. Haunschild, P. R., A. S. Miner. 1997. Modes of interorganizational imitation: The effects of outcome salience and uncertainty. Admin. Sci. Quart. 42 472-500.
60. Haveman, H. A. 1993. Follow the leader: Mimetic isomorphism and entry into new markets. Admin. Sci. Quart. 38 593-627.
61. Hillestad, R., J. Bigelow, A. G. Bower, F. Girosi, R. Meili, R. Scoville, R. Taylor. 2005. Can electronic medical record systems transform healthcare? An assessment of potential health benefits, savings, and costs. Health Affairs 24 1103-1117.
62. HIMSS Analytics. The EMR adoption model. Accessed August 26, 2009, http://www.himssanalytics.org/docs/EMRAM-aH-correctedpdf.
63. Holden, R. 1986. The contagiousness of aircraft hijacking. Amer. J. Sociol. 91 874-904.
64. Howell, J., P. Dorfman, S. Kerr. 1986. Moderator variables in leadership research. Acad. Management Rev. 11 88-102.
65. Huergo, E., J. Jaumandreu. 2004. How does probability of innovation change with firm age? Small Bus. Econom. 22 193-207.
66. Jha, A., T. Ferris, K. Donelan, C. DesRoches, A. Shields, S. Rosenbaum, D. Blumenthal. 2006. How common are electronic health records in the United States? A summary of the evidence. Health Affairs 25 w496-w507.
67. Jha, A. K., C. M. DesRoches, E. G. Campbell, K. Donelan, S. R. Rao, T. G. Ferris, A. Shields, S. Rosenbaum, D. Blumenthal. 2009. Use of electronic health records in U. S. hospitals. New England J. Medicine 360 1628-1638.
68. Kazley, A., Y. Ozcan. 2007. Organizational and environmental determinants of hospital EMR adoption: A national study. J. Medical Systems 31 375-384.
69. Kelley, K. 2007. Sample size planning for the coefficient of variation: Accuracy in parameter estimation via narrow confidence intervals. Behav. Res. Methods 39 755-766.
70. Kerr, S. 1977. Substitutes for leadership: Some implications for organizational design. Organ. Admin. Sci. 8 135-146.
71. Knoke, D. 1982. The spread of municipal reform: Temporal, spatial, and social dynamics. Amer. J. Sociol. 87 1314-1339.
72. Koppel, R., J. Metlay, A. Cohen, B. Abaluck, A. R. Localio, S. E. Kimmel, B. L. Strom. 2005. Role of computerized physician order entry systems in facilitating medication errors. J. Amer. Medical Assoc. 293 1197-1203. (Pubitemid 40327905)
73. Lapointe, L., S. Rivard. 2005. A multilevel model of resistance to information technology implementation. MIS Quart. 29 461-491.
74. le Bon, G. 1895. The Crowd: A Study of the Popular Mind. Viking Press, New York.
75. Lieberman, M., S. Asaba. 2006. Why do firms imitate each other? Acad. Management Rev. 31 366-385.
76. Lorenzi, N. M., J. S. Ash, J. Einbinder, W. McPhee, L. Einbinder. 2005 Transforming Health Care Through Information, 2nd ed. Springer, New York.
77. Makoul, G., R. H. Curry, P. C. Tang. 2001. The use of electronic medical records: Communication patterns in outpatient encounters. J. Amer. Medical Informatics Assoc. 8 610-615.
78. Mansfield, E. 1961. Technical change and the rate of imitation. Econometrica 29 741-766.
79. March, J. G., J. P. Olsen. 1976. Ambiguity and Choice in Organizations. Universitetforslaget, Oslo, Norway.
80. Markle Foundation. 2004. Connecting Americans to their healthcare: Final report. Working Group on Policies for Electronic Information Sharing Between Doctors and Patients. Connecting for Health, Markle Foundation, New York.
81. Marsden, P. 1998. Memetics and social contagion: Two sides of the same coin. J. Memetics, Evolutionary Mod. Info. Trans. 2 171-185.
82. Menard, S. 2002. Applied Logistic Regression Analysis, 2nd ed. Sage Publications, Thousand Oaks, CA.
83. Meyer, A. 1982. Adapting to environmental jolts. Admin. Sci. Quart. 27 515-537.
84. Miller, A. R., C. Tucker. 2009. Privacy protection and technology diffusion: The case of electronic medical records. Management Sci. 55 1077-1093.
85. Milliken, F. 1990. Perceiving and interpreting environmental change: An examination of college administrators' interpretation of changing demographics. Acad. Management J. 33 42-63.
86. Myers, D. J. 2000. The diffusion of collective violence: Infectiousness, susceptibility, and mass media networks. Amer. J. Sociol. 106 173-208.
87. Nagelkerke, N. J. D. 1991. A note on a general definition of the coefficient of determination. Biometrika 78 691-692.
88. Nenonen, M., O. Nylander. 2002. A theoretical framework for health information systems. Intl. J. Healthcare Tech. Management 4 467-477.
89. Nohria, N., R. Gulati. 1996. Is slack good or bad for innovation? Acad. Management J. 39 1245-1264.
90. Nord, W. R., S. Tucker. 1987. Implementing Routine and Radical Innovation. Lexington Books, Lexington, MA.
91. Ornstein, C. 2003. California hospital heeds doctors, suspends use of software. Los Angeles Times (January 22) B1.
92. Pan, E., D. Johnston, J. Adler-Milstein, J. Walker, B. Middleton. 2004. The Value of Healthcare Information Exchange and Interoperability. Center for Information Technology Leadership, Boston.
93. Paré, G., M. Trudel. 2007. Knowledge barriers to PACS adoption and implementation in hospitals. Int. J. Medical Informatics 76 22-33.
94. Pilote, L., R. Califf, S. Sapp, D. Miller, D. Mark, W. Weaver, J. Gore, P. Armstrong, E. Ohman, E. Topol. 1995. Regional variation across the United States in the management of acute myocardial infarction. New England J. Medicine 333 565-572.
95. Pisano, G., R. Bohmer, A. C. Edmondson. 2001. Organizational differences in rates of learning: Evidence from the adoption of minimally invasive cardiac surgery. Management Sci. 47 752-768.
96. Podsakoff, P., S. MacKenzie, W. Bommer. 1996. Transformational leader behaviors and substitutes for leadership as determinants of employee satisfaction, commitment, trust, and organizational citizenship behaviors. J. Management 22 259-298.
97. Podsakoff, P., S. MacKenzie, R. Fetter. 1993. Substitutes for leadership and the management of professionals. Leadership Quart. 4 1-44.
98. Putnam, R. D. 1995. Bowling alone: America's declining social capital. J. Democracy 6 65-78.
99. Rao, H., G. F. Davis, A. Ward. 2000. Embeddedness, social identity, and mobility: Why firms leave the NASDAQ and join the New York Stock Exchange. Admin. Sci. Quart. 45 268-292.
100. Rindova, V., T. Pollock, M. Hayward. 2006. Celebrity firms: The social construction of market popularity. Acad. Management Rev. 31 50-72.
101. Rogers, E. M. 1995. Diffusion of Innovations, 4th ed. The Free Press, New York.
102. Sambamurthy, V., A. S. Bharadwaj, V. Grover. 2003. Shaping agility through digital options: Reconceptualizing the role of information technology in contemporary firms. MIS Quart. 27 237-264.
103. Sánchez, J. L., S. Savin, V. Vasileva. 2005. Key Success Factors in Implementing Electronic Medical Records in University Hospital of Rennes. L'Ecole Nationale de la Santé Publique (National School of Public Health), Rennes, Rennes, France.
104. Schmitt, K. F., D. A. Wofford. 2002. Financial analysis projects clear returns from electronic medical records. Healthcare Financial Management 56 52-57.
105. Scott, J. T., T. G. Rundall, T. M. Vogt, J. Hsu. 2005. Kaiser permanente's experience of implementing an electronic medical record: A qualitative study. British Medical J. 331 1313-1316
106. Simon, H. A. 1991. Bounded rationality and organizational learning. Organ. Sci. 2 125-134.
107. Simon, S. R., R. Kaushal, P. D. Cleary, C. A. Jenter, L. A. Volk, E. G. Poon, E. J. Orav, H. G. Lo, D. H. Williams, D. W. Bates. 2007. Correlates of electronic health record adoption in office practices: A statewide survey. J. Amer. Medical Informatics Assoc. 4 110-117.
108. Singer, J. D., J. B. Willett. 2003. Applied Longitudinal Data Analysis: Modeling Change and Event Occurrence. Oxford University Press, New York.
109. Solovy, A. 2007. Ten lessons from the top 100: One thing is certain-Technology is part of the process of improving care. Hospital Health Networks 81 40-63.
110. Soule, S. A., J. Earl. 2001. The enactment of state-level hate crime law in the United States: Intrastate and interstate factors. Sociol. Perspect. 44 281-305. (Pubitemid 33590789)
111. Still, M., D. Strang. 2009. Who does an elite organization emulate? Admin. Sci. Quart. 54 58-89.
112. Strang, D. 1995. Mhdiff: user documentation. Report, Cornell University, Department of Sociology, Ithaca, NY.
113. Strang, D. 2001. Mhdiff macro v2.1. Cornell University, Department of Sociology, Ithaca, NY.
114. Strang, D., M. W. Macy. 2001. In search of excellence: Fads, success stories, and adaptive emulation. Amer. J. Sociol. 107 147-182.
115. Strang, D., S. A. Soule. 1998. Diffusion in organizations and social movements: From hybrid corn to poison pills. Annual Rev. Sociolgy 24 266-290.
116. Strang, D., N. B. Tuma. 1993. Spatial and temporal heterogeneity in diffusion. Amer. J. Sociol. 99 614-639.
117. Suchman, M. 1995. Managing legitimacy: Strategic and institutional approaches. Acad. Management Rev. 20 571-610.
118. Swanson, E. 1994. Information systems innovation among organizations. Management Sci. 40 1069-1092.
119. Thomas, J., S. Clark, D. A. Gioia. 1993. Strategic sensemaking and organizational performance: Linkages among scanning, interpretation, action, and outcomes. Acad. Management J. 36 239-270.
120. Tolbert, P., L. Zucker. 1983. Institutional sources of change in the formal structure of organizations: The diffusion of civil service reform, 1880-1935. Admin. Sci. Quart. 28 22-39.
121. Tuma, N. B., M. T. Hannan. 1984. Social Dynamics: Models and Methods. Academic Press, Orlando, FL.
122. U. S. Census Bureau. 2008. Population estimates: Population density for States and Puerto Rico: July 1, 2008. Accessed August 30, 2009, http://www.census.gov/popest/gallery/maps/popdens-2008.html.
123. Van den Bulte, C., S. Stremersch. 2004. Social contagion and income heterogeneity in new product diffusion: A meta-analytic test. Marketing Sci. 23 530-544.
124. Wachter, R. 2006. Expected and unanticipated consequences of the quality and information technology revolutions. J. Amer. Medical Assoc. 295 2780-2783.
125. Wang, J. C., C. L. Chen. 2004. An automated tool for managing interactions in virtual communities: Using social network analysis approach. J. Organ. Comput. Electronic Commerce 14 1-26.
126. Wang, S. J., B. Middleton, L. A. Prosser, C. G. Bardon, C. D. Spurr, P. J. Carchidi, A. F. Kittler, R. C. Goldszer, D. G. Fairchild, A. J. Sussman, G. J. Kuperman, D. W. Bates. 2003. A cost-benefit analysis of electronic medical records in primary care. Amer. J. Medicine 114 397-403.
127. Warshawsky, S. S., J. S. Pliskin, J. Urkin, N. Cohen, A. Sharon, M. Binztok, C. Z. Margolis. 1994. Physician use of a computerized medical record system during the patient encounter: A descriptive study. Comput. Methods Programs Biomed. 43 269-273.
128. Wejnert, B. 2002. Integrating models of diffusion of innovations: A conceptual framework. Annual Rev. Sociolgy 28 297-326.
129. Weston, F. 2001. ERP implementation and project management. Production Inventory Management J. 42 75-80.
130. Zander, U., B. Kogut. 1995. Knowledge and the speed of the transfer and imitation of organizational capabilities: An empirical test. Organ. Sci. 6 76-92.