Hospital marketing and the Internet: the adoption of an innovation

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 a marketing 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.