TECHNOLOGICAL ADOPTION AND WORKER’S INNOVATIVE BEHAVIOUR OF TEACHING HOSPITALS IN RIVERS STATE
TL;DR
The study concludes that the actual utilisation of technology, rather than its mere availability, is the dominant driver of innovative behaviour, and recommends that hospital management prioritise the intensive, work-embedded use of existing systems.
Abstract
Teaching hospitals in Rivers State continue to grapple with weak innovative behaviour among their workforce, a challenge manifested in sluggish idea generation and the frequent failure of promising improvements to reach implementation, even as investments in technology intensify. This study therefore examined the relationship between technological adoption and worker’s innovative behaviour of teaching hospitals in Rivers State, with technological adoption operationalised through technological infrastructure and technological utilisation, and worker’s innovative behaviour proxied by worker’s idea generation and worker’s idea implementation. Anchored in the Diffusion of Innovations Theory and the Technology Acceptance Model, the study adopted a positivist philosophy and a cross-sectional survey design. The accessible population comprised 320 healthcare workers drawn from the University of Port Harcourt Teaching Hospital and the Rivers State University Teaching Hospital, spanning clinical, administrative, technical and support staff. The Krejcie and Morgan table yielded a sample of 175 respondents selected through simple random sampling, and a structured questionnaire served as the instrument for data collection. Of the instruments administered, 155 (88.57%) were retrieved and 145 (82.86%) were adequately completed and usable. The hypotheses were tested at the 0.05 level of significance using Partial Least Squares-Structural Equation Modelling via SmartPLS 4.1.1.9. The results revealed that technological infrastructure had a negligible, negative and non-significant relationship with worker’s idea generation (β = -0.004, p = 0.583), but a weak, positive and significant relationship with worker’s idea implementation (β = 0.278, p = 0.001); technological utilisation exhibited a very strong, positive and significant relationship with worker’s idea generation (β = 0.981, p = 0.000) and a moderate, positive and significant relationship with worker’s idea implementation (β = 0.414, p = 0.004). The study concludes that the actual utilisation of technology, rather than its mere availability, is the dominant driver of innovative behaviour, and recommends that hospital management prioritise the intensive, work-embedded use of existing systems.
