An Abstract of a Dissertation Submitted to Nova Southeastern University in Partial
Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy
Nurses’ Acceptance of RFID Technology in a Mandatory-Use Environment
by
Adam Norten
March 2011
Radio frequency identification (RFID) technology allows for the scanning of RFIDtagged objects and individuals without line-of-sight requirements. Healthcare
organizations use RFID to ensure the health and safety of patients and medical personnel and to uncover inefficiencies in operations. The successful implementation of a system incorporating RFID technologies requires acceptance and use of the technology. Nurses are a group of employees who must use RFID in hospitals throughout the United States. However, due to their being tracked by RFID technology, some of these nurses feel like “big brother” is watching them.
This predictive study used a theoretical model that assessed the effect of five independent variables, namely, privacy concerns, attitudes, subjective norms, controllability, and selfefficacy, on a dependent variable, nurses’ behavioral intention to use RFID. A total of 106 U.S. registered nurses answered a Web-based questionnaire containing previously validated and adapted questions that were answered through a five-point Likert scale. Two statistical methods, linear regression and multiple linear regression, were used to investigate the survey results. The results of the linear regression analysis showed that privacy concerns, attitudes, subjective norms, and self-efficacy were each a significant predictor of nurses’ behavioral intention to use RFID. The results of the multiple linear
regression analysis showed that all the constructs together accounted for 60% of the
variance in nurses’ intention to use RFID. Of the five predictors in the model, attitudes provided the largest unique contribution when the other predictors in the model were held constant. Subject norms also provided a unique contribution. The other predictors in the model (privacy concerns, controllability, and self-efficacy) were not statistically significant and did not provide a significant unique contribution to nurses’ behavioral intention to use RFID.
The outcomes of this study constitute a significant original contribution to the body of knowledge in the area of information systems by enhancing understanding of the factors affecting RFID acceptance among nurses. The results of this research also provide hospitals and medical centers that require their nurses to use RFID technology with information that they can use to address barriers to their nurses’ acceptance and use of RFID technology.
Labels: Hospital, Nurse, Radio Frequency Identification, RFID
