Technology acceptance within sustainable logistics of public health emergencies: a study of the UAE public health sector

This study critically examines the role of IoT technology acceptance in sustainable logistics during medical emergencies, considering individual and institutionally held norms in the UAE public sector. Sustainable logistics management of medical emergencies has been severely challenged, as evidenced by the COVID-19 global pandemic. The Ministry of Presidential Affairs (MoPA, UAE) in charge of pandemic management faced logistical challenges attributable to the size of resources, number of stakeholders involved, urgency and agility in managing medical emergencies. Questions of technology acceptance and innovation diffusion exist regarding the use of existing IoT blockchain technology infrastructure to address these challenges.

The study considers the post-positivist research philosophy and the quantitative-deductive-survey research design, considering the population of all MoPA employees [n=1500] as well as stakeholder institutions [n=2000] related to medical logistics management under the auspices of MoPA. A sample of 347 was originally considered, following the stratified proportions sampling technique. The survey questionnaire was used as the primary data collection tool, and analysis followed the non-parametric structural equation modelling analytical technique with the help of IBM SPSS Statistics version 25 and SMART PLS version 4.

As part of the first research question, findings reveal that both individual and organisational norms are instrumental to technology acceptance. With regard to the second research question, there is a generally acceptable level of readiness to accept IoT for medical emergencies despite the need for some improvements in the overall intention to use. Finally, results supporting the third research question reveal that intention and attitude positively influence sustainable logistics ‘economic’ performance.

IoT blockchain technology holds the potential to revolutionise the economic efficiency of logistics management in medical emergencies. Evidence places it as critical to the optimization of UAE’s logistics management of future pandemics.