Factors Contributing to Blockchain Technology Adoption as a Financial Management System in Healthcare Organisations

Abstract

<p>Organisations and governments are now able to facilitate their processes with innovative tools created by technological advancements around the world. Many franchises have considered blockchain technology as a recent development. Blockchain technology offers an immutable, digital, distributed ledger that tracks transactions in near real-time in a well-ordered manner. In a blockchain system, peer-to-peer networking allows companies to communicate with one another instead of relying on a central server that processes data from every company. As a result of multiple utilisation scenarios and the diverse needs of governments, organisations, investors, and consumers, it appears unclear where blockchain technology will be most useful in the future. Thus, this research sets out to examine healthcare organisations with a view to determining the factors that may contribute to the adoption of blockchain technology in supporting business innovation as an aspirational goal of this study.</p> <p>This study critically evaluates the factors that influence the adoption of blockchain technology and the ensuing business innovation, using Saudi Arabian healthcare organisations as an example. The study also examined the connection between implementing blockchain technology and improved business processes in healthcare organisations and evaluated the technology acceptance model's applicability in this situation. This study also sought to investigate the potential of blockchain technology as a financial management system for healthcare organisations.</p> <p>Using mixed methods, this study examined the primary issues related to the adoption of blockchain technology by healthcare organisations. A sample consisting of six large hospitals spanning three cities in the Western Region (i.e., Makkah, Jeddah, and Taif) in Saudi Arabia were surveyed. These hospitals have over 500 clinical beds. Three hundred and sixty questionnaires were distributed for the selected hospitals' quantitative data collection" however, only 180 replies (or a 50% response rate) were needed. Two hundred and two responses were eventually received (147 online surveys and 55 self-administered surveys). Eight surveys were eliminated after a thorough data screening process because they were incomplete. Consequently, n = 194 was the final survey count. In addition, 10 interviews were performed for the qualitative study, during which senior healthcare professionals were questioned about their adoption of blockchain technology. Thematic analysis was used to assess the qualitative data after the data were validated using semi-structured interviews against key themes found in the corpus of existing research. The conceptual model was then verified using a survey instrument, and research hypotheses were developed. The statistical software program SmartPLS3 was utilised to evaluate the hypotheses using partial least square structural equation modelling.</p> <p>An empirical study confirmed and supported the study's conceptual framework. The results highlight five key factors that affect blockchain technology adoption in supporting business innovation for improved processes in healthcare organisations, namely blockchain technology transformational leadership, blockchain technology user training, blockchain technology information quality, blockchain technology perceived usefulness, and blockchain technology perceived ease of use. The quantitative analysis supports a significant relationship between blockchain technology transformational leadership and the two technology acceptance model factors (i.e., perceived usefulness and perceived ease of use). A significant impact was also shown by user training on perceived usefulness, as well as a significant effect on perceived ease of use. This suggests that information quality has a significant impact on perceived usefulness. The adopted blockchain technology supports business innovation for improved healthcare processes in the sampled Saudi Arabian healthcare organisations.</p> <p>This thesis provides insight into both managerial and theoretical aspects of the field. This study contributes to our understanding of blockchain adoption in healthcare organisations and validates the technology acceptance model construct. Moreover, the study contributes to the field of research by combining qualitative and quantitative research methods to study the factors that affect user adoption of blockchain technology. The study also offers managerial recommendations on the roles of transformational leadership, training of users, and information quality. Practitioners can use these findings in designing, developing, and implementing blockchain technology, achieving their expected benefits and ultimately supporting business innovation for improved processes in healthcare organisations. Finally, this study suggests several directions for further investigation, including the opportunity to replicate it in other Middle Eastern and Arabian Gulf nations.</p>