Predicting Employee Adaptation to the Implementation of a Medical Information System

The purpose of this paper is to examine what types of individual traits and characteristics are most predictive of adaptation to the implementation of a MIS among a group of hospital employees. Three dimensions of user adaptation were examined: reported problems in using the MIS, employee feelings toward how the new technology has altered their jobs, and supervisory ratings of employee behavior toward the new MIS. Predictor variables included attitudes toward automation, job perceptions and attitudes, personal attributes, and job characteristics and history. A simple random sample of sixty-eight clerical employees comprised the study group. Results obtained from cross-lagged stepwise multiple regression analyses showed that the variables most predictive of adaptation were attitude toward computers, role ambiguity, several personality attributes, work shift, and previous work history.