Organizational Privacy Responses in Healthcare: A Conceptual Framework

With rising unpredictability and continued changes in the healthcare environment, organizational responses to information privacy threats are unclear, needing better classification and precision. This paper presents an innovative approach by combining the pressures of the healthcare environment and its internal context by extending two organizational typologies: Oliver’s (1991) strategic responses to institutional processes, a motivational framework for examining privacy responses in light of institutional pressures, and Miles’ and Snow's (1978) organization strategy, structure, and process framework providing a perspective on proactiveness. The findings based on in-depth interview data of executive-level healthcare information privacy decision makers highlight both the dimensions of resistance (resistance to institutional pressures) and proactiveness (the degree to which the strategy is proactive in protecting PHI (Protected Health Information). The resulting framework generates theoretically different but sound explanations for differences in information privacy strategic behaviors. The authors offer suggestions, implications and recommendations to researchers and practitioners.