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Abstract
Increasing interest in end users' reactions to health information technology (IT)
has elevated the importance of theories that predict and explain health IT acceptance
and use. This paper reviews the application of one such theory, the Technology Acceptance
Model (TAM), to health care. We reviewed 16 data sets analyzed in over 20 studies
of clinicians using health IT for patient care. Studies differed greatly in samples
and settings, health ITs studied, research models, relationships tested, and construct
operationalization. Certain TAM relationships were consistently found to be significant,
whereas others were inconsistent. Several key relationships were infrequently assessed.
Findings show that TAM predicts a substantial portion of the use or acceptance of
health IT, but that the theory may benefit from several additions and modifications.
Aside from improved study quality, standardization, and theoretically motivated additions
to the model, an important future direction for TAM is to adapt the model specifically
to the health care context, using beliefs elicitation methods.