Determinants of Medical Internet of Things Adoption in Healthcare and the Role of Demographic Factors Modified UTAUT

Medical Internet of Things (mIoT) is the IoT sub-set with vast potential in healthcare. However, the adoption of eHealth solutions such as mIoT has been a critical challenge in the health sector of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Therefore, this study was conducted to explore the mIoT adoption determinants in Saudi public hospitals. Methods: A total of 271 participants were recruited from public hospitals in Riyadh, and a modified UTAUT model named UTAUT-HS was developed in this study to test its relevance with respect to mIoT adoption. Results: Ten path relationships were tested in this study, out of which six showed significant results. Similarly, three variables (Computer and English Language Self-efficacy or CESE, Performance Expectancy or PE and Social Influence or SI) showed a significant direct relationship with the behavioural intention to adopt mIoT. Furthermore, CESE showed the strongest relationship and emerged as a major sub-set of Effort Expectancy (EE) for mIoT adoption. However, moderator analysis showed substantial variations between different study demographic groups. In particular, the current study findings unravelled a comparatively novel relevance of Perceived Threat to Autonomy (PTA) for mIoT adoption for clinical and non-clinical and for older and younger participants. Conclusion: The study concludes that UTAUT-HS is an adequate model to explain the mIoT adoption in healthcare. However, it also suggests conducting future large-scale studies in KSA and elsewhere to validate the relevance of UTAUT-HS in other contexts and with much more confidence.