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Cited by 26Social Media in Health EducationHealth, Technology, Consumer BehaviorDigital Marketing and Social Media

Technological, Organizational, and Environmental Factors Influencing Social Media Adoption by Hospitals in Switzerland: Cross-Sectional Study

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Beier, Michael, Früh, Sebastian·2020·Journal of Medical Internet Research
DOI 10.2196/16995PMC PMC7351265
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Abstract

Background: Social media platforms are important tools for hospitals. These platforms offer many potential benefits in various areas of application for hospitals to connect and interact with their stakeholders. However, hospitals differ immensely in their social media adoption. There are studies that provide initial findings on individual factors influencing social media adoption by hospitals, but there is no comprehensive and integrated model. Objective: This study aimed to develop a comprehensive model of social media adoption by hospitals in the context of the Swiss health care system and to test the model with empirical data from Switzerland. Methods: To develop our model, we applied the general technology-organization-environment framework of organizational technology adoption and adapted it to the specific context of social media adoption by hospitals in Switzerland. To test our model, we collected empirical data on all 283 hospitals in Switzerland and identified the accounts they operate on 7 different social media platforms (Facebook, Google+, Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn, XING, and YouTube). We tested the hypotheses of our model by means of binary logistic regression (dependent variable: platform adoption) and negative binomial regression (dependent variable: number of different platforms adopted). Results: Our general model on social media adoption received broad support. Overall, hospitals in Switzerland are more likely to adopt social media if they have a higher share of patients with voluntary health insurance or have a higher patient volume. In contrast, they are less likely to operate their own social media accounts if they are associated with a hospital network. However, some hypotheses of our model received only partial support for specific social media platforms; for instance, hospitals in Switzerland are more likely to adopt XING if they provide an educational program and are more likely to adopt LinkedIn if they are located in regions with higher competition intensity. Conclusions: Our study provides a comprehensive model of social media adoption by hospitals in Switzerland. This model shows, in detail, the factors that influence hospitals in Switzerland in their social media adoption. In addition, it provides a basic framework that might be helpful in systematically developing and testing comprehensive models of social media adoption by hospitals in other countries.

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  • The TOE framework emphasizes identifying facilitators and barriers to the adoption of a specific technology rather than providing guidance on governing the broader range of technologies implemented within organizations.

    “The framework emphasizes identifying facilitators and barriers to the adoption of a specific technology, rather than providing guidance on governing the broader range of technologies implemented within organizations23–26.”

    From Establishing organizational AI governance in healthcare: a case study in Canada (2025) · cites this paper as [26]

    The Introduction’s Research Model and Hypotheses section describes the TOE framework as identifying factors that influence technology adoption and says it needs adaptation to a specific technology and industry. It does not address whether the framework provides guidance for governing the broader range of technologies already implemented within an organization. (LLM, conf=0.84)

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Cited by

Sorted by citations

Authors
Beier, M., & Früh, S.
Affiliations
University of Applied Sciences of the Grisons (CH)
Corresponding author
Beier, Michael
ORCID
Venue
Journal of Medical Internet Research
Publisher
JMIR Publications Inc.
Published
2020-03-09
Volume
22
Issue
3
Pages
e16995
ISSN
1438-8871 (ISSN-L)
DOI
10.2196/16995
PMC
PMC7351265
OpenAlex
W3012202492
Cited by
26
References
5
Citations by year
2025: 6 · 2023: 8 · 2022: 9 · 2021: 1 · 2020: 2
FWCI
2.77
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Licence
cc-by
Locations
  • Journal of Medical Internet Research (publishedVersion, cc-by)
  • PubMed Central (publishedVersion, cc-by)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
  • DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals) (submittedVersion, cc-by-sa)
Funders
Innosuisse - Schweizerische Agentur für Innovationsförderung
Topics
  • Social Sciences › Health › Social Media in Health Education
  • Health Sciences › Health Professions › Health Information Management › Health, Technology, Consumer Behavior
  • Social Sciences › Sociology and Political Science › Digital Marketing and Social Media
Keywords
social media adoption, hospitals, technology-organization-environment framework, technology adoption in organizations, voluntary health insurance, patient volume, hospital networks, Xing, LinkedIn, competition intensity, healthcare communication, Swiss health care system
MeSH terms
Cross-Sectional Studies, Delivery of Health Care, Hospitals, Humans, Switzerland, Social Media

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