Technology Perception and Productivity Among Physicians in the New Norm Post-pandemic: A Dynamic Capabilities Perspective

Healthcare service is experiencing a paradigm shift due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The pandemic has caused unprecedented fatalities and taken a toll on medical resources globally. Researchers and healthcare professionals value how data accessibility and analytics can save lives. Developing countries are fast leveraging on the electronic medical record (EMR) system to enhance decision-making effectiveness and patient care. However, for many healthcare professionals, there remain unexplored possibilities of how the use of this ‘normally’ operational-centric EMR might change post-pandemic. We investigate the antecedents (perceived usefulness, perceived ease of use, habit) of the intention to use EMR, and its impact on dynamic capabilities and physician productivity pre- and post-pandemic, focusing on physicians who are at the frontline of Intensive Care Units (ICUs) in Malaysia. This study evidences two significant findings: (1) before the pandemic in the ‘normal’ condition of EMR use, technology perception has significant indirect impact on physician productivity via the key role of dynamic capabilities. However, (2) after the pandemic in the ‘abnormal’ condition, technology perception no longer has any significant impact on physician productivity though their intention to use EMR may have a very weak direct impact on their productivity. A key significant change in the new norm post-pandemic is that dynamic capabilities no longer mediate but strongly and directly impact physician productivity. This direct positive effect is much stronger than before the pandemic. Theoretically, the study is among the first few to integrate perspectives from information systems and dynamic capabilities to examine the impact of EMR use on physician dynamic capabilities for knowledge acquisition and deployment towards enhancing their productivity. The study also offers insights into how a pandemic could accelerate technology perception and contributes to the dynamic use of technology to aid physicians.