Determinants of adaptability in the design of accounting information systems - A study of Italian hospitals

This study examines whether accountability structures and managerial characteristics/traits are associated with clinical managers’ perceptions of accounting information systems (AISs). We undertake this study in Italian hospitals and include a sample of clinical managers. Our sample includes only public hospitals but they operate under different structural arrangements. We assess if clinical managers from the two different types of structures differ in perceptions of AISs. We also assess whether different specializations perceive the AISs differently. Given clinical specialization has been demonstrated to reflect different attitudes and behaviors we use this as a proxy for ‘managerial characteristics’ and assess whether attitudes of clinical managers to AISs differs between the specializations. Our results partially support our expectations. Clinical managers’ perceptions of AISs adaptability in the two different structures only differs for those dimensions of the AISs that are patient centric. We also find support for our expectations that surgeons perceptions of AISs is significantly lower than other types of clinical managers.