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Technological Change at Work: The Impact of Employee Involvement on the Effectiveness of Health Information Technology

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  • Adam Seth Litwin

Abstract

The link between employee involvement (EI) and organizational performance is not clear-cut, and the diffusion of information technology (IT) in the workplace complicates this relationship. The author argues that new technologies offer an important avenue by which EI can improve firm performance. He also contends that those studies that do consider EI in the context of technological change may be focusing exclusively on workplace-level features of the employment relationship, ignoring variation in functional- and strategic-level aspects of employment relations. To test this hypothesis, he uses Kaiser Permanente Northwest Region's patient scheduling module as an exemplar to investigate the extent to which this particular technology interacts with EI to affect clinic-level improvements in patient satisfaction. He studies the impact of the technology over the period October 2004 to August 2007 across 16 clinics to identify variation across sites. Measuring outcomes from a dataset that includes employee and patient surveys, interviews, archival data, and clinic observations, he finds that the use of IT is associated with performance increases and that these effects are greater in those clinics achieving higher mean levels of EI. This study presents the first empirical evidence of the potential of EI to enhance the effectiveness of health IT.

Suggested Citation

  • Adam Seth Litwin, 2011. "Technological Change at Work: The Impact of Employee Involvement on the Effectiveness of Health Information Technology," ILR Review, Cornell University, ILR School, vol. 64(5), pages 863-888, October.
  • Handle: RePEc:sae:ilrrev:v:64:y:2011:i:5:p:863-888
    DOI: 10.1177/001979391106400502
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    Cited by:

    1. Adam Seth Litwin, 2013. "Not Featherbedding, but Feathering the Nest: Human Resource Management and Investments in Information Technology," Industrial Relations: A Journal of Economy and Society, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 52(1), pages 22-52, January.
    2. Adam Seth Litwin & Sherry M. Tanious, 2021. "Information Technology, Business Strategy and the Reassignment of Work from In‐House Employees to Agency Temps," British Journal of Industrial Relations, London School of Economics, vol. 59(3), pages 816-847, September.
    3. Ariel C. Avgar & Julie Anna Sadler & Paul Clark & Wonjoon Chung, 2016. "Labor–Management Partnership and Employee Voice: Evidence from the Healthcare Setting," Industrial Relations: A Journal of Economy and Society, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 55(4), pages 576-603, October.
    4. Adam Seth Litwin, 2017. "Collective Bargaining and Technological Investment: The Case of Nurses’ Unions and the Transition from Paper-Based to Electronic Health Records," British Journal of Industrial Relations, London School of Economics, vol. 55(4), pages 802-830, December.

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