Considering Stakeholders when Implementing New Technologies

Integrating the concerns of stakeholders into the decision process can be particularly important when adopting a new technology. Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) offers many potential benefits to the healthcare industry. However, hospital administrators who are examining this technology may not be considering the concerns of some secondary stakeholders (e.g, patients). A consumer survey found that support for two RFID applications in hospitals varied both across respondents and across applications. Privacy attitudes and behaviors were linked with RFID support levels. Increased two-way communications between healthcare management and both primary and secondary stakeholders may help improve the technology adoption decisions.