Digitalization in a Mandatory Implementation Context : How digitalization is achieved in practice and the elements that affect it

Abstract: Healthcare around the world is facing strenuous times, whereby there is a need for reduced costs, improved efficiency, and effectiveness. Digitalization is a transformational phenomenon argued to solve the many problems of healthcare. As of such, this thesis studies digitalization in a healthcare setting - considering how digitalization is achieved in practice, and what elements hamper and enable sociotechnical changes required for digitalization. To study these aspects, a qualitative case study was carried out on the recently implemented mandatory electronic dental card among the dental care professionals from a Baltic country. The study allowed contributions to digitalization research by looking at the phenomenon from industry-level analysis, also revealed the elements that hamper and enable digitalization, outlined the different digitalization patterns, and argued that digitalization relies on the extent by which the new system provides value to the users without interfering with professional expertise and ethics.