ENABLERS OF STAKEHOLDER INVOLVEMENT IN THE DIGITALISATION OF THE UK HEALTHCARE SECTOR: AN ACTIVITY THEORY PERSPECTIVE

This study is part of a larger research project exploring stakeholder involvement impact on the adoption of digital technologies. The literature indicates that there is a need for further research on the role, involvement and management of stakeholder in the implementation of digital technologies in the healthcare sector. Aiming to address part of this research gap, this study investigated factors that enable stakeholder involvement in the digitalization of the UK healthcare sector using activity theory as the theoretical framework. The study followed a qualitative interpretive approach in which semi-structured interviews were used to collect data. Ten interviews were conducted and analysed using thematic analysis, both manually and through the qualitative software analysis tool NVivo. The findings indicate that there are six clusters of factors that enable stakeholder involvement in the digitalisation of the UK healthcare sector: (1) digitalisation ownership and culture, (2) systemic approach to digitalisation complexity, (3) leadership and management digital competencies and innovativeness, (4) communication and involvement mechanisms and tools, (5) stakeholder trust in digitalisation process and leadership and, (6) stakeholder perceived digitalisation benefits. These factors’ influence is enacted through three layers: firstly, the digitalisation process leadership and management layer, secondly, the communication layer and, thirdly, the behaviour change layer. Further research is being undertaken to develop best practice guidelines for stakeholder involvement for successful digitalization.