Hospital Marketing and the Internet: The Adoption of an Innovation
Document Type
Article
Publication Date
1-2003
Abstract
Given the manner in which the Internet permeates today’s
society, it is easy to forget that the Internet as we know it is only about a
decade old. Due to its newness, the Internet has provided an opportunity to
view the manner in which marketers move to adopt such an innovation.
To that end, since 1995 a series of studies has tracked the adoption and use
of the Internet by hospital marketers. In addition to simply investigating
the number of hospitals that utilize the Internet in their marketing efforts,
the studies have addressed such questions as: How are hospitals using the
Internet to market themselves?, What roadblocks have held hospitals back
from adopting the Internet as amarketing tool?, and How happy are hospitals
with their Internet investment? This manuscript details the most recent
in this series of research studies. In addition, the authors compare the
results of this study, conducted in the fall of 2002, with the results from the
previous studies. As a result, this study provides a unique opportunity to
observe the actual adoption of an innovation, the Internet, by hospital
marketing professionals.