A Method for the Identification of Actors Involved in the Adoption of Innovations in Healthcare Organizations

The adoption of innovations in the area of healthcare is a slow and problematic process. Many categories of actors with different interests are involved in the adoption process, and influence it. Thus, it has been suggested that human (e.g. actors), technical and organizational factors should be considered, to support the adoption of innovations. Nevertheless, limited literature has focused on the actors involved in this process and this has rarely been addressed empirically and practically. Moreover, there is a lack of methods that define and identify these actors. This paper seeks to (a) highlight the importance of actors involved in the adoption process, (b) define them, (c) provide a method for healthcare actors’ identification and (d) evaluate the proposed definition and method in the practical arena. The proposed approach is novel as it (a) addresses the uncertainties related to the actors in a healthcare setting during the adoption, (b) enhances existing adoption models, (c) facilitates healthcare organizations in making robust decisions and (d) might provide guidance to increase adoption.