Universität zu Köln

Gao, Fangjian (2019). The Meaningful Use of Cloud Computing in Healthcare. PhD thesis, Universität zu Köln.

Preview

PDF Diss_FG_final_veroeffentlichen_print.pdf Download (4MB) | Preview

Abstract

This dissertation focuses on the meaning of cloud computing for healthcare and its meaningful use in the healthcare industry. If used in a meaningful way, cloud computing is argued to be able to provide major benefits to the healthcare industry. Surprisingly, the benefits promised by using cloud computing often do not hold in practice, and the deployment of cloud computing services in healthcare organizations could lead to countereffects for healthcare. Although existing research studies cover a wide range of domains in healthcare, they often do not explain the way in which cloud computing could support healthcare in a systematic manner. In reply to that insufficiency in the research, this dissertation aims to investigate the phenomenon of cloud computing in healthcare organizations and to answer the following overarching research question: How can cloud computing support healthcare organizations in a meaningful way (i.e., meaningful use)? This dissertation conducted four research studies by employing established explorative research methods. The dissertation begins with a study (study 1) that investigates the basic properties of cloud computing services and their specific meanings for the healthcare industry, and suggests concrete directions for studies related to the meaningful use of cloud computing in healthcare. Study 2 focuses on the identification of industry-specific factors for the adoption of cloud computing services in healthcare, and studies 3 and 4 on an investigation of the way in which cloud computing supports collaborative activities in healthcare, respectively. Both focuses belong to research directions suggested by study 1. By addressing the overarching research question, this dissertation could deepen our understanding of the use of information technology (IT) artefacts that advances information systems theories, not only regarding cloud computing itself but also in terms of more general health IT levels.

Item Type:	Thesis (PhD thesis)
Creators:	Creators Email ORCID ORCID Put Code Gao, Fangjian gaofangjian@hotmail.com UNSPECIFIED UNSPECIFIED
Corporate Creators:	Karlsruher Institut für Technologie
URN:	urn:nbn:de:hbz:38-92214
Date:	12 January 2019
Language:	English
Faculty:	Faculty of Management, Economy and Social Sciences
Divisions:	Ehemalige Fakultäten, Institute, Seminare > Faculty of Management, Economy and Social Sciences > no entry
Subjects:	Data processing Computer science Management and auxiliary services
Uncontrolled Keywords:	Keywords Language cloud computing UNSPECIFIED health IT UNSPECIFIED collaboration engineering UNSPECIFIED meaningful use UNSPECIFIED ehealth UNSPECIFIED
Date of oral exam:	23 November 2018
Referee:	Name Academic Title Sunyaev, Ali Prof. Dr. Kuntz, Ludwig Prof. Dr.
Refereed:	Yes
URI:	http://kups.ub.uni-koeln.de/id/eprint/9221